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 2010 Yushu earthquake | |
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| Total costs | N/A |
| Deaths | 2968 |
The 2010 Yushu earthquake struck on April 14 and registered a magnitude of 6.9 Mw (USGS, EMSC) or 7.1 Ms (CEA, CENC). It had a maximum felt intensity of IX (Violent) on the Mercalli intensity scale. It originated in Yushu, Qinghai, China, at 7:49 am local time (23:49 April 13 UTC). According to the Xinhua News Agency, 2,698 people were confirmed dead, 270 missing and 12,135 injured, 1,434 of them severely. The epicenter was located in Rima village (日玛村/日麻村), Upper Laxiu township (上拉秀乡) of Yushu County, in remote and rugged terrain, near the border of Tibet Autonomous Region, about 30 km from Gyêgu town or Jyekundo, the seat of Yushu County, and about 240 km from Qamdo. The epicenter was in a sparsely populated area on the Tibetan plateau that is regularly hit by earthquakes.The 12th century Thrangu Monastery and surrounding villages were severely damaged and many monks and villagers were killed.
Source: Wikipedia
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