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A Nepalese boy stands amid earthquake damage in the ancient city of Bhaktapur in the Kathmandu Valley, April 28, 2015, three days after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake had hit the country.Adam Ferguson for TIME
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A Nepalese man carries recovered belongings through the streets of Bhaktapur in the Kathmandu Valley, April. 28, 2015.Adam Ferguson for TIME
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People stand on top of a damaged building in Durbar Square in Kathmandu, April 26, 2015. The historic Durbar Square, a UNESCO world heritage site, was severely damaged in the earthquake.Adam Ferguson for TIME
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A group of Hindu Nepalese women mourn the loss of four family members who were killed in the earthquake at the site of funeral pyres on the river of Kathmandu, April 28, 2015.Adam Ferguson for TIME
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A crowd watches Indian forces excavating collapsed apartments, looking for bodies and survivors in Kathmandu, April 27, 2015.Adam Ferguson for TIME
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Nepalese forces excavate the Dharahara tower in Kathmandu, April 26, 2015. The building, a UNESCO world heritage site, was severely damaged in the earthquake.Adam Ferguson for TIME
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Nepalese people flee buildings during an aftershock in Kathmandu, April 27, 2015.Adam Ferguson for TIME
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Indian and Nepalese forces attempt to identify a body after it was recovered from a collapsed restaurant in Kathmandu, April 27, 2015.Adam Ferguson for TIME
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A Hindu Nepalese man tends to a funeral pyre built for a person killed in the earthquake, on the river in Kathmandu, April 27, 2015.Adam Ferguson for TIME
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Nepalese forces excavate the Dharahara tower in Kathmandu, April. 26, 2015.Adam Ferguson for TIME
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Nepalese forces clear fallen bamboo from ruins in Durbar Square, Kathmandu, April 26, 2015.Adam Ferguson for TIME
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Nepalese children walk through the street in the ancient city of Bhaktapur, in the Kathmandu Valley, April 28, 2015.Adam Ferguson for TIME
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Workers repair power lines in Kathmandu, April 28, 2015.Adam Ferguson for TIME
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Indian and Nepalese forces excavate a body from collapsed apartments in Kathmandu, April 27, 2015.Adam Ferguson for TIME
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Nepalese people retrieve belongings from damaged homes in Bhaktapur, Kathmandu Valley, April 29, 2015.Adam Ferguson for TIME
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Nepalese women mourn relatives lost in the earthquake in Bhaktapur, in the Kathmandu Valley, April 29, 2015.Adam Ferguson for TIME
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People walk through the damaged streets in the ancient city of Bhaktapur, Kathmandu Valley, April 29, 2015.Adam Ferguson for TIME
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A displaced Nepalese family takes shelter in a tent in a Kathmandu park, April 27, 2015.Adam Ferguson for TIME
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A mother looks at her son who was injured in the earthquake, at the Nepal and India Trauma Center in Kathmandu, April 29, 2015.Adam Ferguson for TIME
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Emergency rescue workers clear debris and search for survivors in Katmandu, April 27, 2015.Adam Ferguson for TIME
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A body recovered from a collapsed restaurant in Kathmandu, April 27, 2015.Adam Ferguson for TIME
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A Nepalese man tends to a funeral pyre built for a person killed in the earthquake, on the river in Kathmandu, April 28, 2015.Adam Ferguson for TIME
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A funeral pyre built for a person killed in the earthquake, on the river in Kathmandu, April 27, 2015.Adam Ferguson for TIME
Freelance photographer Adam Ferguson was on assignment in New Delhi when a 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit the central region of Nepal. “The building started to shake, and I immediately looked at the news to see how the situation was developing,” he says.
Using his connections with an Indian travel agency, Ferguson was able to secure a seat on one of the last flights to Kathmandu, where he began to photograph the aftermath for TIME. “I flew in on Sunday morning,” he says. “I went straight down to the historic center, which had been devastated. It was a pile of rubble.”
While most of the city only suffered structural damages – “the majority of Kathmandu is still standing, with only the buildings that weren’t constructed properly having fallen over,” he says – the UNESCO sites and historical structures were the hardest hit.
“I spent the first moving around the city, photographing for TIME the destruction and looking for rescue teams,” says Ferguson. By nightfall, as aftershocks continued to hit the region, he spent part of the night sleeping in an office inside a two-story building. With each aftershock, he’d rush outside in the rain. “A lot of people have been staying in parks and open spaces,” he says. And this is not expected to change any time soon: “An extraordinary number of buildings that haven’t fallen over have suffered constructional damage, so a huge amount of people won’t be able to move back in for weeks.”
Adam Ferguson is an Australian freelance photographer based in Bangkok, Thailand.
Olivier Laurent is the editor of TIME LightBox. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @olivierclaurent
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