Disasters recorded on 1 January across the years, drawn from our archive of historical events.
The Black Death was a plague pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the most fatal pandemics in human history, leading to the death of up to 50 million people, or 50% of Europe's 14th-century population. The disea…
The Great Chinese Famine (Chinese: 三年大饥荒; lit. 'three years of great famine') was a famine that occurred between 1959 and 1961 in the People's Republic of China (PRC). Some scholars have also included the years 1958 or 1962. It is widely re…
The 1918–1920 flu pandemic, also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or by the misleading name Spanish flu, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 subtype of the influenza A virus. The earliest probable c…
The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a preventable disease. It can be ma…
The Cocoliztli Epidemic or the Great Pestilence was an outbreak of a mysterious illness characterized by high fevers and bleeding which caused 5–15 million deaths in the North American territory of New Spain during the 16th century. The Azt…
The Holodomor, also known as the Ukrainian famine, was a massive man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933 that killed millions of Ukrainians. The Holodomor was part of the wider Soviet famine of 1930–1933 which affected the major…
The Great Bengal famine of 1770 struck Bengal and Bihar between 1769 and 1770 and affected some 30 million people, which was about one third of the current population of the area. It occurred during a period of dual governance in Bengal. T…
The Soviet famine of 1930–1933 was a famine in the major grain-producing areas of the Soviet Union, including Ukraine and parts of Russia (Kazakhstan, North Caucasus, Kuban, Volga region, the southern Urals, and western Siberia). Major fac…
The 1931 China floods, or the 1931 Yangtze–Huai River floods, were a series of devastating floods that occurred from June to August 1931 in China, hitting major cities such as Wuhan, Nanjing and beyond, and eventually culminating in a dike …
The 1957–1958 Asian flu pandemic was a global pandemic of influenza A virus subtype H2N2 that originated in Guizhou in Southern China. The number of excess deaths caused by the pandemic is estimated to be 1–4 million around the world (1957–…
The North Korean famine (Korean: 조선기근), dubbed by the government as the Arduous March (고난의 행군), was a period of mass starvation together with a general economic crisis from 1994 to 1999 in North Korea. During this time there was an increase…
The Bengal famine of 1943 was a famine during World War II in the Bengal Province and Orissa Province of British India. An estimated 800,000–3.8 million people died, in the Bengal region (present-day Bangladesh and West Bengal), from starva…
The Persian plague epidemic of 1772–1773, also simply known as the Persian Plague, was a massive outbreak of plague, more specifically Bubonic plague, in the Persian Empire, which claimed around 2 million lives in total. It was one of the m…
The Doab famine of 1860–1861 was a famine in India that affected the Ganga-Yamuna Doab in the North-Western Provinces, large parts of Rohilkhand and Awadh, the Delhi and Hissar divisions of the Punjab, all in British India, then under Crown…
The 1048 Yellow River flood was a natural disaster along the Yellow River in China that was caused by the failure of a fascine in Shanghu in 1048 AD. It caused over a million people to be killed and many displaced, and was a major cause of …
The Italian plague of 1629–1631, also referred to as the Great Plague of Milan, was part of the second plague pandemic that began with the Black Death in 1348 and ended in the 18th century. One of two major outbreaks in Italy during the 17t…
The 1889–1890 pandemic, often referred to as the "Asiatic flu" or "Russian flu", was a worldwide respiratory viral pandemic. It was the last great pandemic of the 19th century, and is among the deadliest pandemics in history. The pandemic …
The Henan famine of 1942–1943 (Chinese: 河南大饑荒) occurred within the context of the Second Sino-Japanese War and resulted from a combination of natural and human factors. Anthony Garnaut put the death toll to be "well under one million", prob…
The Great Tenmei famine (天明の大飢饉, Tenmei no daikikin) affected Japan during the Edo period. The famine was the deadliest one during the early modern period in Japan. It is considered to have begun in 1782 and lasted until 1788. It was named …
The year round heat and drought in 1540 was the worst climatic event of this kind since the 1473 heat and drought in Europe. It had catastrophic consequences in large parts of the continent. From February until the end of the year it was …
The 1970 Bhola cyclone, also known as the Great Cyclone of 1970 or simply the Bhola Cyclone, was the deadliest tropical cyclone on record, as well as one of the deadliest humanitarian disasters ever recorded. It struck East Pakistan (presen…
Long-term drought in Nigeria has resulted in desertification and a shortage of land for raising cattle and growing crops. To acquire land for farming or grazing, farmers and herdsmen are encouraged to go to new areas, which frequently leads…
The Kyōhō famine (享保の大飢饉, Kyōhō no daikikin), was a famine on the Japanese island of Kyushu during the reign of Emperor Nakamikado in the Edo period. It is estimated that 12,172-169,000 people died from starvation. The famine, named after t…
The 1598 Amasya–Çorum earthquake devastated central north Anatolia during the month of May. The earthquake destroyed the towns of Amasya and Çorum, killing at least 60,000 people. A tsunami accompanied the shock, drowning many people along …
The Yōwa famine (養和の飢饉, Yōwa no kikin), was a famine which affected Japan at the end of Heian period. It began in 1180, and lasted until 1182. It was named after the Yōwa era (1181–1182), during the reign of Emperor Antoku. The shogunate…
The Christmas Flood of 1717 was the result of a northwesterly storm, which hit the coast area of the Netherlands, Germany, and Scandinavia on Christmas night of 1717. In total, about 14,000 people drowned. It was the last large storm flood …
The Finnish famine of 1866–1868 was the last famine in Finland, and (along with the subsequent Swedish famine of 1867–1869) the last major famine in Northern Europe. In Finland, the famine is known as "the great hunger years", or suuret näl…
Laki (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈlaːcɪ] ) or Lakagígar ([ˈlaːkaˌciːɣar̥], Craters of Laki) is a volcanic fissure in the western part of Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland, not far from the volcanic fissure of Eldgjá and the small village of…
The Okeechobee hurricane of 1928, also known as the San Felipe Segundo hurricane and Florida's Forgotten Storm, was one of the deadliest hurricanes in the recorded history of the North Atlantic basin, and the fourth deadliest hurricane in t…
In January 2011, a series of insurgent shooting and bombing attacks were launched throughout Iraq.
The Nyasaland famine of 1949 was a famine that occurred in the Shire Highlands in the Southern Province of Nyasaland (now Malawi) and also in a part of the Central Province in 1949. Its effects extended into the early part of 1950. The imme…
The 2024 South American wildfires refer to a mega colossal series of wildfires that significantly impacted several neighboring South American countries, including Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Based on Global Wildfire…
The Kurenivka mudslide occurred on 13 March 1961 in Kyiv, then a city in the Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union. It took place near the historic Babi Yar ravine, which had been the site of the mass murder of more than 100,000 Jews and other civili…
The Great Fire of 1910 (also commonly referred to as the Big Blowup, the Big Burn, or the Devil's Broom fire) was a wildfire in the Inland Northwest region of the United States which burned three million acres (4,700 sq mi; 12,100 km2) in N…
The 2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires season saw a year-to-year surge in fires occurring in the Amazon rainforest and Amazon biome within Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Peru during that year's Amazonian tropical dry season. Fires normally oc…
The 2022 Siberian wildfires were a series of wildfires in Russia that began in Siberia in early May 2022. Fires were concentrated in the Krasnoyarsk, Altai, Irkutsk, Kemerovo, Omsk, Kurgan regions, Khakassia and Sakha republics.
The 1343 tsunami struck the Tyrrhenian Sea and Bay of Naples on 25 November 1343. Underground shocks were felt in Naples and caused significant damage and loss of lives. Of major note was a tsunami created by the earthquake which destroyed …
The 1473 heat and drought in Europe was a climatic extreme. The heatwave and drought in 1473–1474 lasted 14 months, affecting Western, Central and Eastern Europe as well as Southern Scandinavia, Ireland, Northern Italy and parts of Spain. T…
The Russian famine of 1601–1603, Russia's worst famine in terms of proportional effect on the population, killed perhaps two million people: about 30% of the Russian people. The famine compounded the Time of Troubles (1598–1613), when the T…
The Great Famine, also known as the Great Hunger (Irish: an Gorta Mór [ənˠ ˈɡɔɾˠt̪ˠə ˈmˠoːɾˠ]), the Famine and the Irish Potato Famine, was a period of mass starvation and disease in Ireland from 1845 to 1852. It constituted a major histori…
The 1867 Virgin Islands earthquake and tsunami occurred on November 18, at 14.45 in the Anegada Passage about 20 km southwest of Saint Thomas, Danish West Indies (now U.S. Virgin Islands). The Ms 7.5 earthquake came just 20 days after the d…
The Irish famine of 1879 was the last main famine in Ireland. Unlike the earlier Great Famines of 1740–1741 and 1845–1852, the 1879 famine (sometimes called the "mini-famine" or an Gorta Beag) caused hunger rather than mass deaths and was l…
The famine in central Kenya in 1899 is regarded as a devastating catastrophe in Kenyan history. It spread rapidly from 1898 in the central region of the country around Mount Kenya after several consecutive years of low rainfall. The prevale…
The 1911–16 Australian drought consisted of a series of droughts that affected various regions of Australia between the years of 1911 and 1916. Most of the dry spells during this period can be related to three El Niño events in 1911, 1913 a…
The Russian famine of 1921–1922, also known as the Povolzhye famine (Russian: Голод в Поволжье 'Volga region famine'), was a severe famine in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic that began early in the spring of 1921 and lasted…
The Chinese famine of 1928–1930 occurred as widespread drought hit Northwestern and Northern China, most notably in the provinces of Henan, Shaanxi and Gansu. Mortality is estimated to be within 6 million, including deaths from famine-relat…
The 1950s Texas drought was a period between 1949 and 1957 in which the state received 30 to 50% less rain than normal, while temperatures rose above average. During this time, Texans experienced the second-, third-, and eighth-driest singl…
The 1976 European heatwave was considered to be the hottest summer in Europe, and especially the United Kingdom, during the 20th century. A large high-pressure area dominated most of Europe for all of the summer months. The pressure system…
Between 1979 and 1983 almost all of eastern Australia was affected by a major drought. Although in some places such as the South Coast the drought was almost continuous, in most of the affected region the major years of drought were 1980 an…
A widespread famine affected Ethiopia from 1983 to 1985. The worst famine to hit the country in a century, it affected 7.75 million people (out of Ethiopia's 38–40 million) and left approximately 300,000 to 1.2 million dead. 2.5 million peo…
The 1988–1990 North American drought ranks among the worst episodes of drought in the United States. This multi-year drought began in most areas in 1988 and continued into 1989 and 1990 (in certain areas). The drought caused $60 billion in…
Petorca in Chile has experienced a drought as part of the Chilean water crisis since 2010. It is the longest and most intense drought in the area in 700 years. By 2018, the Ministry of Public Works had decreed Petorca a "zone of water scarc…
The 2000s drought in Australia, also known as the millennium drought, is said by some to be the worst drought recorded since European settlement. The drought affected most of southern Australia, including its largest cities and largest agri…
In 2006, an acute shortage of food affected the countries in the Horn of Africa (Somalia, Djibouti and Ethiopia), as well as northeastern Kenya. The United Nations's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated on January 6, 2006, that…
From 2006 to 2008, the Southeastern United States experienced a drought. It was caused by an unusually strong Bermuda High pressure and by the timing of La Niña, which causes dry conditions across the Southern United States. 2007 was partic…