East Africa Drought (2011)
The
worst drought in 60 years, the Horn of Africa experienced a severe
drought since mid-July of 2011 with an estimated 12.4 million people in
need of food. It resulted in a food crisis across Kenya, Somalia,
Ethiopia, and Djibouti, threatened the livelihood of more than 9.5
million people, and caused widespread death and famine.
Recognized
as the “Arduous March”, this famine that devastated North Korea from
1994 to 1998 had an estimated death toll of between 240,000 and
3,500,000 caused by starvation and hunger-related illnesses. Out of its
24 million people, 5 million are malnourished including 800,000 children
with 80,000 on the brink of starvation. Everyone felt the impact of the
famine, but those who are further from the capital suffered greater.
Food assistance was given by the United States, Japan, South Korea,
China and other European Union countries, which continued until 2002
when the North Korean government requested to stop the deliveries of
these food supplies.
Europe
is not too used to scorching hot summers so when the 2003 European heat
wave struck, it resulted in a health crisis in several countries as
well as a drought which led to crop shortage, especially in Ukraine
where 75% of wheat crops were lost. The hottest since 1540, at least
14,802 casualties recorded in France alone with victims coming from old
people in nursing homes, or single family homes with no air-conditioning
systems. The extreme temperatures also dried up most of Europe, which
resulted in forest fires and counterintuitively, even flooding.
When
torrential rains hit southern China in August 1931, it caused the
Yangtze River to flood killing nearly 3.7 million people. This was
considered the worst natural disaster of the 20th century.
Occurring between
the months of February and March in 2000 the catastrophic flooding was
caused by torrential rainfall that lasted for 5 weeks. It made many
people homeless as it affected 1,400 sq km of arable land, killing 800
people and 20,000 cattle.
While
the Revolutionary War was reshaping society and politics along the
eastern seaboard, the Great Smallpox Epidemic was ravaging the entire
North American continent from 1775 to 1782. Caused by a contagious virus
known as “Variola major,” the initial signs of smallpox came 12 days
later after exposure, where early symptoms included backache, fever,
headache, vomiting, and general malaise. While there have been
devastating outbreaks of smallpox from the time of early Spanish
exploration, none were as fully documented as the early conflicts of the
American Revolution from 1775 to 1776.
This tuberculosis
epidemic in Europe during the 17th century lasted for nearly 200 years.
It was the leading cause of death in 1650 and very likely propagated
due to poor sanitary conditions.
This
earthquake happened on India’s 51st Republic Day celebration in January
26, 2001. The quake, which had a magnitude between 7.6 and 7.7, lasted
for over 2 minutes with the epicenter about 9 km south-southwest of the
Chobari village. It resulted in a death toll of 20,000 people, injured
167,000 and destroyed 400,000 homes. It also caused major shock waves
that spread 700 km where 21 districts were affected and left 600,000
people homeless.
An
epidemic that swept through Europe from 1348 to 1351, it killed an
estimated 25 to 60% of Europe’s population, though some estimates were
higher which would mean somewhere between 75 million to 200 million
people. Also known as “the Great Mortality” or “the Pestilence,” it was
the second plague pandemic of the Middle Ages, next only to the
Justinian plague in the 6th century.
The
first wave of the Spanish flu, which is one of the several types of
influenza viruses, might have begun in March 1918 and began to spread
throughout Asia, Europe, and North America. A contagious illness, it was
responsible for the death of 20 million to 40 million people, though
other estimates range from 40 million to 100 million people.
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