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Famine
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Famine is one of the worst, if not the worst of the disasters that afflict humankind. The people affected are reduced to chronic poverty and are in absolute want. Probably the worst thing about a famine is that it is not only caused by natural phenomena, but it is ... due to man-made causes that could have been avoided. A famine is not just simply caused by a crop failure whose immediate cause is meteorological, usually drought, but is also produced by a complex of social and economic forces that reflect general rural poverty. The Russian famine of 1891-92 affected an area of around 900,000 square miles in the Volga and central agricultural areas. Ironically, these were once the most fertile and productive parts of Russia.
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Famine is the culmination of a long process, typically covering two or more crop seasons, in which increasing numbers of people lose their access to food. Although early detection seems highly possible, the origins of famine are unclear, and early response is therefore rare. Famine is distinct from generalized chronic hunger, malnutrition, or undernourishment. It is a more dramatic and exceptional event that triggers institutional responses.
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Famine Stamps have had a cult following, as reccomended on threat of death by the most wise leaders of each country. Here are the most popular flavors in each country in which famine stamps are made.
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Famine has a strong impact on demographics. For example, it has been observed that periods of extensive famine can lead to a reduction in the number of reported female children in some cultures. Demographers and historians debate the causes of this trend. Some believe that parents deliberately select male children (by killing or selling female children, see infanticide), who were perceived as more valuable. Others believe that biological processes may be at work.
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Famine struck North Korea in the mid-1990s, set off by unprecedented floods. This autarkic urban, industrial society had achieved food self-sufficiency in prior decades through a massive industrialization of agriculture. However, the economic system relied on massive concessionary inputs of fossil fuels, primarily from the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China. When the Soviet collapse and China's marketization switched trade to a hard currency, full price basis, North Korea's economy collapsed. The vulnerable agricultural sector experienced a massive failure in 1995–96, expanding to full-fledged famine by 1996–99. An estimated 600,000 died of starvation (other estimates range from 200,000 to 3.5 million).[16] North Korea has not yet resumed its food self-sufficiency and relies on external food aid from China, Japan, South Korea and the United States.
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Donations for the Irish Famine came from distant and unexpected sources. Calcutta, India sent 16,500 Pounds in 1847, Bombay another 3,000. Florence, Italy, Antigua, France, Jamaica, and Barbados sent contributions. The Choctaw tribe in North America sent $710. Many major cities in America set up Relief Committees for Ireland, and Jewish synagogues in America and Britain contributed generously.
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