2018 Anak Krakatoa | |
|---|---|
| Total costs | N/A |
| Deaths | 426 |
Anak Krakatau (English: 'Child of Krakatoa') is an island in a caldera in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in the Indonesian province of Lampung. On December 29, 1927, Anak Krakatoa emerged from the caldera formed in 1883 by the explosive volcanic eruption that destroyed the island of Krakatoa. There has been sporadic eruptive activity at the site since the late 20th century, culminating with a large underwater collapse of the volcano which caused a deadly tsunami in December 2018, followed by subsequent activity in 2019 and an eruption in April 2020. Due to its young age, the island is one of several in the area which are of considerable interest to volcanologists, and the subject of extensive study.
Source: Wikipedia Spanish flu (Influenza A H1N1)1918-1920 | |
|---|---|
| Total costs | N/A |
| Deaths | 1000000 |
Spanish flu, also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or the 1918 influenza pandemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was March 1918 in Kansas, United States, with further cases recorded in France, Germany and the United Kingdom in April. Two years later, nearly a third of the global population, or an estimated 500 million people, had been infected in four successive waves. Estimates of deaths range from 17 million to 50 million, and possibly as high as 100 million, making it one of the deadliest pandemics in human history. The name 'Spanish flu' is a misnomer, rooted in historical othering of infectious disease origin, which is now avoided. The pandemic broke out near the end of World War I, when wartime censors suppressed bad news in the belligerent countries to maintain morale, but newspapers freely reported the outbreak in neutral Spain. These stories created a false impression of Spain as the epicenter, so press outside Spain adopted the name 'Spanish' flu. Limited historical epidemiological data make the pandemic's geographic origin indeterminate, with competing hypotheses on the initial spread.Most influenza outbreaks disproportionately kill the young and old, with a higher survival rate in-between, but this pandemic had unusually high mortality for young adults. Scientists offer several explanations for the high mortality, including a six-year climate anomaly affecting migration of disease vectors with increased likelihood of spread through bodies of water. The virus was particularly deadly because it triggered a cytokine storm, ravaging the stronger immune system of young adults, although the viral infection was apparently no more aggressive than previous influenza strains. Malnourishment, overcrowded medical camps and hospitals, and poor hygiene, exacerbated by the war, promoted bacterial superinfection, killing most of the victims after a typically prolonged death bed.The 1918 Spanish flu was the first of three flu pandemics caused by H1N1 influenza A virus; the most recent one was the 2009 swine flu pandemic. The 1977 Russian flu was also caused by H1N1 virus, but it mostly affected younger populations. The ongoing pandemic of COVID-19, which began in December 2019 and is caused by SARS-CoV-2, is the deadliest respiratory virus pandemic since the Spanish flu.
Source: WikipediaThe 1988–1989 North American drought ranks among the worst episodes of drought in the United...
The 1792 Unzen earthquake and tsunami resulted from the volcanic activities of Mount Unzen (in...
On the morning of March 13, 1888, an explosion took place on Ritter Island, a small volcanic...
In May 2015, India was struck by a severe heat wave. As of 3 June 2015, it caused the deaths of...
Welcome to 