Wildfires

WILDFIRES

Wildfires are large fires which often start in wildland areas. Common causes include lightning and drought but wildfires may also be started by human negligence or arson. They can spread to populated areas and can thus be a threat to humans and property, as well as wildlife.

Notable cases of wildfires were the 1871 Peshtigo Fire in the United States, which killed at least 1700 people, and the 2009 Victorian bushfires in Australia.

HEALTH DISASTERS

Epidemics

The A H5N1 virus, which causes Avian influenza

An epidemic is an outbreak of a contractible disease that spreads through a human population. A pandemic is an epidemic whose spread is global. There have been many epidemics throughout history, such as the Black Death. In the last hundred years, significant pandemics include:

The 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, killing an estimated 50 million people worldwide

The 1957–58 Asian flu pandemic, which killed an estimated 1 million people

The 1968–69 Hong Kong water flu pandemic

The 2002-3 SARS pandemic

The AIDS pandemic, beginning in 1959

The H1N1 Influenza (Swine Flu) Pandemic 2009–2010

Other diseases that spread more slowly, but are still considered to be global health emergencies by the WHO, include:

XDR TB, a strain of tuberculosis that is extensively resistant to drug treatments

Malaria, which kills an estimated 1.6 million people each year

Ebola virus disease, which has claimed hundreds of victims in Africa in several outbreaks.