In the early months of an Ebola epidemic that has claimed more than 6,000 lives in West Africa, Getty Images photographer John Moore was on the frontline in Liberia.
At that time, untrained medical workers fell victim to the virus, with hospitals and clinics unable to handle the rising number of cases. Moore’s harrowing images, published on TIME LightBox in August, crystallized these challenges. “I went relatively early on to cover the Liberia outbreak,” he says. “And I hope that my work had at least some small influence on mobilizing aid, [helping to] instill a sense of urgency into the international community.”
Moore spent a total of four weeks on the story, and he advised several other photographers on the crucial and life-saving procedures one has to carefully follow to prevent infection. “I was very happy to see other news organizations go to West Africa afterwards and expand the coverage,” says Moore. “I believe that with a humanitarian crisis like this, more media is better. In the case of Liberia, there were actually fewer media there than there would normally be on such a large story. Perhaps fear had something to do with that.”
With the virus posing an invisible risk, many news organizations have been reticent to send journalists and photographers to cover the outbreak. But, says Moore, while the epidemic has “the appearance of being too dangerous, in reality, I believe it was less dangerous than some of the other places I’ve been and worked consistently over the years like Afghanistan and Iraq.”
Harrowing Images of Liberia's Ebola Outbreak
Women pray for an end of the Ebola epidemic on Aug. 14, 2014 in Monrovia, Liberia.John Moore—Getty ImagesA girls runs as a burial team prepares to collect the dead body of a woman suspected of dying of the Ebola virus on Aug. 14, 2014 in Monrovia.John Moore—Getty ImagesA burial team from the Liberian health department prays before entering a house to remove the body of a woman suspected of dying of the Ebola virus on Aug. 14, 2014 in Monrovia.John Moore—Getty ImagesKorpo Klay watches as a Liberian health department burial team prepares to enter the home of her deceased cousin Kormassa Kaba, who was suspected of dying of the Ebola virus on Aug. 14, 2014 in Monrovia.John Moore—Getty ImagesA burial team from the Liberian health department sprays disinfectant over the body of a woman suspected of dying of the Ebola virus on Aug. 14, 2014 in Monrovia.John Moore—Getty ImagesPeople watch as a son prepares his father to be taken to an Ebola isolation center on Aug. 15, 2014 in Monrovia.John Moore—Getty ImagesA son tries to prepare his father in their one-room home before they are taken to an Ebola isolation ward on Aug. 15, 2014 in Monrovia.John Moore—Getty ImagesA Liberian health worker speaks with families in a classroom now used as Ebola isolation ward on Aug. 15, 2014 in Monrovia.John Moore—Getty ImagesIbrahim Fambulle, sick and weak, tries to stand as a corpse lies nearby in an Ebola ward on Aug. 15, 2014 in Monrovia.John Moore—Getty ImagesUmu Fambulle stands over her husband Ibrahim after he staggered and fell, knocking him unconscious in an Ebola ward on Aug. 15, 2014 in Monrovia.John Moore—Getty ImagesBatu Flowers tries to convince local residents that the Ebola epidemic is real on Aug. 16, 2014 in Monrovia.John Moore—Getty ImagesA man carries out a girl from an Ebola isolation center as a mob overruns the facility in the West Point slum on Aug. 16, 2014 in Monrovia.John Moore—Getty ImagesA woman wipes her nose after protesters drove out an Ebola burial team who had come to collect the bodies of four people who had died overnight in the West Point slum on Aug. 16, 2014 in Monrovia.John Moore—Getty ImagesA Liberian burial team wearing protective clothing retrieves the body of a 60-year-old Ebola victim from his home on Aug. 17, 2014 near Monrovia.John Moore—Getty ImagesWorkers prepare the new Doctors Without Borders Ebola treatment center on Aug. 17, 2014 near Monrovia.John Moore—Getty ImagesHanah Siafa lies with her daughter Josephine, 10, while hoping to enter the new Doctors Without Borders , Ebola treatment center on Aug. 17, 2014 in Monrovia.John Moore—Getty ImagesHanah Siafa walks in the rain with her children Josephine, 10, and Elija, 6, while waiting to enter the new Doctors Without Borders, Ebola treatment center on Aug. 17, 2014 in Monrovia.John Moore—Getty ImagesUNICEF health workers walk through the streets, going house to house to speak about Ebola prevention on Aug. 18, 2014 in New Kru Town.John Moore—Getty ImagesPublic health advocates play music to attract people for an Ebola awareness and prevention event on Aug. 18, 2014 in Monrovia.John Moore—Getty ImagesLocal residents watch public health advocates stage street performances at an Ebola awareness and prevention event on Aug. 18, 2014 in Monrovia.John Moore—Getty ImagesMattresses that were looted from an isolation center for Ebola patients, local residents said, float in a seaside dump in the West Point slum in Monrovia on Aug. 19, 2014.John Moore—Getty ImagesLocal residents discuss how to help a very sick boy, 10, in a back alley of the West Point slum in Monrovia on Aug. 19, 2014. The boy was one of the patients who was pulled out of a holding center for suspected Ebola patients when the facility was overrun by a mob on Saturday.John Moore—Getty ImagesA very sick boy, 10, lies in a back alley of the West Point slum in Monrovia on Aug. 19, 2014. The boy was one of the patients who was pulled out of a holding center for suspected Ebola patients when the facility was overrun by a mob on Saturday. A local clinic refused to treat the boy on Tuesday, according to residents, because of the danger of infection.John Moore—Getty Images
Moore plans on returning, as he tells TIME in an exclusive video interview: “I don’t know yet the timing of my return, but I’ll go back to West Africa.”
Olivier Laurent is the editor of TIME LightBox. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @olivierclaurent. Paul Moakley, TIME’s Deputy Director of Photography, produced this video essay.
