Specific World Disasters

1840’s – Ireland

• Great potato famine is one of the worst famines on record, in terms of percentage dead

1914-1918

• WWI • Affected large parts of the world

1918-1919

• Spanish Flu Epidemic• The Spanish Influenza was one of the last

epidemics to significantly affect the mortality in industrial countries.

• It was called Spanish Influenza because the first reports of the illness were from Spain.

1930’s

• The depression• One of the most well known economic

recessions in history. • There was a drop in income for several

countries but what caused the most suffering was the high unemployment and the social problems linked to this high unemployment

1932

• The Soviet Union was struck by a devastating famine in 1932-1933. The famine mortality was high in large areas stretching from Ukraine, Northern Caucasus to Kazakhstan.

1934-1945

• WWII

1959-1962

• In China in 1958 Mao launched a major economic reform campaign called “the great leap forward”. It was followed by a devastating famine, in which some 15 million are estimated to have died.

• This is probably the worst famine, in terms of the number of people that died.

1975-1979

• Cambodia• The policies of the Khmer Rouge led to mass

deaths of Cambodians on a horrific scale, both through famine and through executions

1994

• Rwanda• It is estimated that between a half a million

and one million were killed in a few months in the Rwanda genocide

1997

• The Asian Economic Crisis• A financial crisis hit several East Asian

countries in 1997. It is seen as a temporary income drop for countries like Indonesia. Malaysia and South Korea