7. The Spanish Flu
This global disaster actually killed more people in a single year than in the multiple years of the black plague. The Spanish Flu was responsible for killing between 20 and 40 million people between 1918 and 1919. With mass graves dug to bury the countless people that were otherwise healthy and strong, the spanish flu is credited as the worst biological epidemic in history.
Because of the Spanish flu, the lifespan in the United States went down by ten years. Imagine the devastation and destruction this flu would have caused if it continued on the same horrific path. While on one hand, World War I was coming to a close, the Spanish flu very nearly wiped out humanity in a way that the war could not.
6. Shaanxi Earthquake
Some natural disasters have been known to destroy a great deal of human life. The Shaanxi Earthquake of 1556, during the Chinese Ming Dynasty impacted 90 countries and killed nearly a million people. If such an earthquake occurred today, there is no way to measure the cost of destruction. In fact, recovery may not even be possible in a restorative manner.
When you consider that the Shaanxi earthquake occurred at a time in history where people were still living much more simplistically with less infrastructure, it is amazing to learn that this one event destroyed well over half the population of certain countries. The world went on and the region bounced back, but one has to wonder what would happen if such an event happened just like this today? Could humanity in that region survive and rebuild?
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