Just last week, this land was filled with villages, rice paddies and farms. Now, this is what’s left. Debris, livestock and somewhere hundreds of people stranded, missing or dead. This is Laos, a single-party communist country that is one of the poorest in Asia. On Monday, part of a hydroelectric dam that was still under construction collapsed. Water flooded the villages, killing at least dozens and forcing thousands to flee. The journey here was rough, with constant rain and backbreaking roads. Challenging, especially for rescue workers. We arrived in the tiny town of Khom Kong, where only hours earlier the water levels had been up to the roofs. Villagers and soldiers trudged through knee-high mud, at times not sure what they were looking for. Lim Thong had spent the past few nights sleeping on the roof of his family’s shop. He and his wife Wan Pheng were digging through the debris to salvage what they could. Laotian Army rescue teams are still searching in patrol. Four days on, they say they’re more likely to find bodies than survivors. A few hours away, survivors gathered at a school for shelter. Earlier this week, the Laos government said 27 had died and 131 are still missing. But experts say these numbers are suspiciously low, and the reality here may be a lot worse. The failure of the dam, which was part of a billion-dollar project meant to boost the country’s economy, raises many questions. Who’s to blame for the collapse? And why weren’t these towns evacuated faster? But as the rains continue to come, and rescue teams still search for the missing, villagers can only wait for the waters to lower and hope that they’ll still have a home to return to.