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UNIDIR collaboration · Photo essay

Beyond the Blast

A photographic collaboration with UNIDIR on the long-term civilian harm caused by explosive weapons in towns and cities.

Overhead view of rubble, broken household items and several people moving along a narrow street beside damaged buildings.
Overhead view of rubble, broken household items and several people moving along a narrow street beside damaged buildings.Photograph by Laurin Strele
UNIDIR collaboration
Photo essay

An explosion lasts seconds. Its effects can shape civilian life for years. When explosive weapons are used in towns and cities, the blast may kill and injure people immediately, but the damage rarely ends there.

Destroyed homes, hospitals, schools, roads, water networks and power systems can cut entire communities off from care, education, food, work and safety. UNIDIR describes these knock-on consequences as indirect or reverberating effects: harm that spreads beyond the site and moment of an attack, accumulating across everyday life.

These effects are difficult to document. Immediate casualty figures cannot show displacement, interrupted services, psychological harm, environmental damage or the loss of cultural places. A fuller picture depends on local organisations and affected communities, alongside field reporting, casualty recording, service assessments, satellite imagery and other open-source information.

Created in collaboration with UNIDIR, this photographic essay follows what remains after the blast: damaged streets and homes, fractured shared spaces, and the people who continue to move through them. The work asks us to see destruction not as a single event, but as a long process that reshapes daily life, recovery and the future.

Better documentation cannot undo the damage, but it can make patterns of harm harder to ignore. It can support humanitarian response and reconstruction, inform policy and military practice, and strengthen efforts to prevent, minimise and respond to civilian harm.

A boy, seen in silhouette, looks from a damaged building onto a courtyard filled with rubble and burned vehicles.
A boy, seen in silhouette, looks from a damaged building onto a courtyard filled with rubble and burned vehicles.
A man pushes a wheelbarrow through debris between damaged apartment buildings.
A man pushes a wheelbarrow through debris between damaged apartment buildings.
A woman seen from behind looks across the remains of a collapsed home under a grey sky.
A woman seen from behind looks across the remains of a collapsed home under a grey sky.
A young person stands on the frame of a burned-out car in a street lined with heavily damaged buildings.
A young person stands on the frame of a burned-out car in a street lined with heavily damaged buildings.
A young person sits in sunlight at the edge of a narrow street between severely damaged buildings.
A young person sits in sunlight at the edge of a narrow street between severely damaged buildings.
Children climb on a worn amusement-ride structure in front of destroyed apartment blocks.
Children climb on a worn amusement-ride structure in front of destroyed apartment blocks.
Children play ball against a wall marked by impact holes, with damaged buildings behind them.
Children play ball against a wall marked by impact holes, with damaged buildings behind them.
A man walks toward a row of roofless and heavily damaged concrete buildings.
A man walks toward a row of roofless and heavily damaged concrete buildings.
A lone man stands inside a vast roofless building marked by collapsed concrete and exposed steel.
A lone man stands inside a vast roofless building marked by collapsed concrete and exposed steel.
Two people walk hand in hand through a courtyard surrounded by partially collapsed buildings.
Two people walk hand in hand through a courtyard surrounded by partially collapsed buildings.
Two people walk hand in hand past a burned-out car and a heavily damaged residential building.
Two people walk hand in hand past a burned-out car and a heavily damaged residential building.
Destroyed vehicles and blue containers lie among collapsed concrete and twisted metal under storm clouds.
Destroyed vehicles and blue containers lie among collapsed concrete and twisted metal under storm clouds.
A rusted blue vehicle sits in dry brush with skeletal concrete buildings in the background.
A rusted blue vehicle sits in dry brush with skeletal concrete buildings in the background.
A large rusted metal fragment is fixed to a post beside a pedestrian crossing, with a man and dog in the background.
A large rusted metal fragment is fixed to a post beside a pedestrian crossing, with a man and dog in the background.
A person in camouflage and a protective vest stands amid debris inside a heavily damaged building.
A person in camouflage and a protective vest stands amid debris inside a heavily damaged building.
A partially collapsed house stands beneath a dramatic cloudy sky, surrounded by overgrown vegetation.
A partially collapsed house stands beneath a dramatic cloudy sky, surrounded by overgrown vegetation.
A burned-out car stands among the remains of buildings and scorched vegetation beneath dark clouds.
A burned-out car stands among the remains of buildings and scorched vegetation beneath dark clouds.
A multi-storey residential building is split open, exposing burned rooms and broken concrete.
A multi-storey residential building is split open, exposing burned rooms and broken concrete.
Upward view through the exposed floors and broken walls of a burned residential building.
Upward view through the exposed floors and broken walls of a burned residential building.
A heavily damaged church stands behind a metal fence beneath a cloudy sky.
A heavily damaged church stands behind a metal fence beneath a cloudy sky.
Rubble fills a damaged church interior where painted icons remain on the surviving walls.
Rubble fills a damaged church interior where painted icons remain on the surviving walls.
Rubble covers the floor of a damaged church interior beneath painted religious murals.
Rubble covers the floor of a damaged church interior beneath painted religious murals.
A man stands inside a damaged church with painted icons, rubble and water covering the floor.
A man stands inside a damaged church with painted icons, rubble and water covering the floor.
A pedestrian crosses a street at dusk between an illuminated place of worship and a lit shop beneath a damaged building.
A pedestrian crosses a street at dusk between an illuminated place of worship and a lit shop beneath a damaged building.

Collaboration and sources

Photographs and visual essay
Laurin Strele
Research collaboration
United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR)
Special thanks
Bárbara Morais Figueiredo, Researcher, Conventional Arms and Ammunition Programme, UNIDIR

Companion text adapted and simplified from Bárbara Morais Figueiredo and Katherine Young, “Understanding Civilian Harm from the Indirect or Reverberating Effects of the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas: Strengthening Data Collection to Implement the Political Declaration” (UNIDIR and Explosive Weapons Monitor, 15 October 2024), and Bárbara Morais Figueiredo, “Explosive Weapons and the 2030 Agenda: How the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas Undermines Sustainable Development,” in Fragments: Explosive Weapons Monitor Quarterly, Vol. 1, Issue 2 (December 2023). This companion text is a concise editorial summary and does not replace the original publications.

Expanded photograph