People doing laundry at the dhobi ghat, during bubonic plague outbreak, Karachi, India. Photograph, 1897.

Karachi is a port in the province of Sind (subsequently [1996] Pakistan) It was placed in quarantine in 1897, during the outbreak of bubonic plague which spread from Bombay. The Plague Committee consisted mostly of volunteers, who were organised into parties and were responsible for the segregation and inoculation of various districts