Abandoned former legendary Packard Automobile Manufacturing Plant with the ripped off sign of “MOTOR CITY INDUSTRIAL PARK.” It was open in 1907, and the most innovated plant in those days. March 06, 2009.

Detroit was once America’s iconic city of prosperity. However, upon visiting for the first time in early 2009 it reminded me of the war-torn cities of Beirut and Kabul. Many factories of former legendary automakers were left in ruins, still containing hazardous materials such as asbestos. One-third of the city’s buildings or houses remained vacant. Many of them were burned out due to arson. The crime rate had soared - about 70 percent of homicides remain unsolved. The school system had failed to serve its children – many schools had already been abandoned and at least another 20 schools were planning to close due to a municipal budget deficit. By 2008, the city’s population had dropped to about 900,000, less than half the number of residents in 1950.

A homeless man walks in front of the closed down stores and deserted parking lot in a Detroit shopping mall. March 06, 2009.

A dead dog with sadistic painting lies at the abandoned former Packard Automobile Manufacturing Plant site. March 09, 2009.

I traveled to Detroit to document the impact the current economic crisis was having on the city. However, it was clear that Detroit’s tragedy began decades earlier, with the continuous decline of the auto industry caused by a combination of myopic, bureaucratic auto industry executives and leaders of the United Auto Workers (UAW), corrupt politicians, and a legacy of racial tensions. The city could not create alternative, diverse industrial bases, as the auto-industry was too powerful to oppose. Detroit’s decades-long collapse can not simply be blamed on the decline of the auto industry however. In my view, the real problem comes from a culture of indifference. Not until the recent economic crisis and the government bailouts was much attention paid to the plight of Detroit and its citizens. In this light, I photographed a deserted landscape of communities, factories and people struggling for their very survival. My photographs reflect a man-made humanitarian crisis unfolding as a consequence of America’s indifference.

The homeless and the poor, including children, make a line at the Capuchin soup kitchen in Detroit. March 09, 2009.

A box filled with new applicants' job application forms stays at a counter in a franchised fast food restaurant, as the unemployment rate of Detroit is enormously high. March 06, 2009.

A recruiting advertisement for Marines stays in rain. The U.S. military recruitment has reportedly gone well, while the unemployment rate of the private sectors is dramatically increasing. March 08, 2009.

Because of Detroit’s significance as the symbol of America’s once great industrial identity, I wonder….what hope do other industrial centers have in this country if America cannot save its industrial heart? Does the fall of Detroit foreshadow a national decline for America? These are the questions I hope to answer through my work.

A Detroit homeless man is reflected on a window of a restaurant, waiting outside for some of the customers giving him money. March 12, 2009.

Detroit police stay in front of GM's headquarter, as people of the People Summit, a four-day protest event, which demands to bail out people, not corporations, wage a protest. June 15, 2009.

At waning Chrysler's Detroit Axle Plant, axle carts stay emptily, as the automaker is predicted to file for the chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. March 10, 2009.

There might be more chance now than ever before of saving Detroit. The current worldwide economic downturn, at least, has brought attention back to this city. People both in and out of the city have started talking about how to revive it. Smart and feasible ideas include reusing the recently closed auto factories for high-speed rail manufacturing, which could be the future of the American transportation system, and bringing green jobs to the area. Those of us living in the U.S. should not miss this chance.

The reality of Detroit, however, remains grim. The city’s unemployment rate hit nearly thirty percent few months after GM filed for the chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In a county morgue in the city corpses are piling up, unclaimed because neither the families nor the municipality can afford the burials. Because of non-existent job opportunities, foreclosures and many other reasons, people continue to leave their hometown.

A topless bartender serves to clients at a bar, as the city's economic downturn continues. 2009.

A man stays near a fire scene of an abandoned house in East Detroit, where many abandoned or force-closed houses exist, and often get burned down or fired by arson or drug addict squatter's unconscious acts. The fire on abandoned houses is getting one of the most critical issues in Detroit.

Detroit’s old cemetery and the city’ business areas in the far image are seen from a broken window of an abandoned former Packard auto plant. March 09, 2009.