CatastropheThe 1980s

Catastrophe in the 1980s

Every event in the Terralore archive tagged catastrophe — plague, famine, earthquake and other disasters, narrowed to the 1980s — 7 of them, drawn from 7 nations, running from 1983 to 1988. Each entry keeps the sources it was verified against and links back to the chronicle it came from.

Events
7
Nations
7
Earliest
1983
Latest
1988
Africa
4
Europe
2
Asia
1

Every entry below is the same record, with the same sources, as the one on its nation’s chronicle.

  1. Africa

    Ethiopia

    The great famine

    Drought, civil war and Derg policies cause a famine that kills several hundred thousand to more than a million people; rights groups attribute much of the toll to government counter-insurgency tactics rather than drought alone.

    Era: Haile Selassie, the Derg, Civil War and Modern Ethiopia

    Sources: 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia · Wikipedia, Ethiopia (country overview) · Encyclopaedia Britannica

  2. Africa

    South Sudan

    An estimated two million dead

    Over more than two decades the war kills around two million people through combat, famine and disease and uproots millions, among the deadliest conflicts of its time.

    Era: Marginalisation and Two Civil Wars

    Sources: South Sudan: The 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, Conflict, Independence · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Ten Years Later: Taking Stock of Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement · Council on Foreign Relations

  3. Europe

    Belarus

    The Chernobyl disaster

    The reactor explosion at Chernobyl in Ukraine sent about 70 percent of its radioactive fallout onto Belarus, contaminating nearly a quarter of the country's territory and affecting some 2.2 million people.

    Era: Chernobyl, Independence and the Lukashenka Era

    Sources: Fallout from Chernobyl disaster still a 'very important challenge' for Belarus · UN News, Belarus · Encyclopaedia Britannica

  4. Europe

    Ukraine

    Chernobyl disaster

    An explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in northern Ukraine caused the worst nuclear accident in history, exposing Soviet failings and fuelling Ukrainian discontent in the final Soviet years.

    Era: Soviet Ukraine, the Holodomor and the Second World War

    Sources: History of Ukraine · Encyclopaedia Britannica

  5. Asia

    Armenia

    Spitak earthquake

    A catastrophic earthquake struck northern Armenia around Spitak and Gyumri, killing tens of thousands and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless in the final Soviet years.

    Era: Soviet Armenia

    Sources: Armenia — Caucasus, Soviet Union, Genocide (Modern Armenia) · Encyclopædia Britannica

  6. Africa

    Burundi

    Ntega and Marangara killings

    Ethnic violence in the northern communes of Ntega and Marangara kills thousands, pressuring Buyoya to begin national reconciliation and democratisation.

    Era: The Ikiza: The 1972 Mass Killing

    Sources: History of Burundi · Wikipedia, Burundi: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica

  7. Africa

    Somaliland

    Mass killing of Isaaq civilians (Isaaq genocide)

    Human-rights investigators documented the systematic killing of Isaaq civilians; a 2001 UN inquiry found the crime of genocide had been perpetrated by the government between 1987 and 1989. Death-toll estimates vary widely and are cited with caution.

    Era: Grievance, the SNM and the Killings of the Late 1980s

    Sources: Isaaq genocide · Wikipedia, Investigating genocide in Somaliland · Al Jazeera