Soviet famine 1932-1933 | |
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| Total costs | N/A |
| Deaths | 8000000 |
The Soviet famine of 1932–1933 was a famine in the major grain-producing areas of the Soviet Union, including Ukraine, Northern Caucasus, Volga Region, Kazakhstan, the South Urals, and West Siberia. About 5.7 to 8.7 million people are estimated to have lost their lives. Joseph Stalin and other party members had ordered that kulaks were 'to be liquidated as a class', and became a target for the state. The richer, land-owning peasants were labeled kulaks and were portrayed by the Bolsheviks as class enemies, which culminated in a Soviet campaign of political repressions, including arrests, deportations, and executions of large numbers of the better-off peasants and their families in 1929–1932.Major contributing factors to the famine include the forced collectivization in the Soviet Union of agriculture as a part of the first five-year plan, forced grain procurement, combined with rapid industrialisation, a decreasing agricultural workforce, and several severe droughts. Some scholars have classified the famine in Ukraine and Kazakhstan as genocides which were committed by Stalin's government, targeting ethnic Ukrainians and Kazakhs, while others dispute the relevance of any ethnic motivation, as is frequently implied by that term, instead, they focus on the class dynamics which existed between the land-owning peasants (kulaks) with strong political interest in private property, and the ruling Soviet Communist party's fundamental tenets which were diametrically opposed to those interests. Gareth Jones was the first Western journalist to report the devastation.
Source: Wikipedia 2003 Bam earthquake | |
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| Total costs | N/A |
| Deaths | 26271 |
The 2003 Bam earthquake struck the Kerman province of southeastern Iran at 01:56 UTC (5:26 AM Iran Standard Time) on December 26. The shock had a moment magnitude of 6.6 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). The earthquake was particularly destructive in Bam, with the death toll amounting to at least 34,000 people and injuring up to 200,000. The effects of the earthquake were exacerbated by the use of mud brick as the standard construction medium; many of the area's structures did not comply with earthquake regulations set in 1989. Following the earthquake the U.S. offered direct humanitarian assistance to Iran and in return the state promised to comply with an agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency which supports greater monitoring of its nuclear interests. In total a reported 44 countries sent in personnel to assist in relief operations and 60 countries offered assistance. Following the earthquake, the Iranian government seriously considered moving the capital of Tehran in fear of an earthquake occurring there. The earthquake had a psychological impact on many of the victims for years afterwards. A new institutional framework in Iran was established to address problems of urban planning and to reconstruct the city of Bam in compliance with strict seismic regulations. This process marked a turning point, as government ministers and international organizations collaborated under this framework with local engineers and local people to organize the systematic rebuilding of the city.
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