2015 Southeast Africa floods
The 2015 Southeast Africa floods, partially related to Cyclone Bansi and Tropical Storm Chedza, killed at least 176 people in Malawi, 86 in Mozambique, and at least 46 in Madagascar over the course of a week while leaving hundreds more missing. Vice President of Malawi Saulos Chilima stated that over 200,000 Malawian people have been displaced by the flood. About 400,000 African people have been displaced in total, and 153 were declared missing. Flooding began on January 14, 2015, subsiding at the end of the month. Due to the flooding, the soil in some areas became over saturated and caused landslides, leading to more deaths.
Three Gorges Dam construction began
The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric gravity dam that spans the Yangtze River by the town of Sandouping, in Yiling District, Yichang, Hubei province, central China, downstream of the Three Gorges. The world's largest power station in terms of installed capacity (22,500 MW), the Three Gorges Dam generates an average 95±20 TWh of electricity per year, depending on the annual amount of precipitation in the river basin. After the extensive monsoon rainfalls of 2020, the dam's annual production reached nearly 112 TWh, breaking the previous world record of ~103 TWh set by Itaipu Dam in 2016.
1968 Belice earthquake
The 1968 Belice earthquake sequence took place in Sicily between 14 and 15 January. The largest shock measured 5.5 on the moment magnitude scale, with five others of magnitude 5+. The maximum perceived intensity was X (Extreme) on the Mercalli intensity scale. The earthquake sequence, centred between the towns of Gibellina, Salaparuta and Poggioreale, killed at least 231 people, possibly more than 400, with between 632 and about 1,000 injured and left 100,000 homeless. It is known in Italy as Terremoto del Belice. There was a sequence of six M 5+ earthquakes, making this western Sicily's largest historical seismic event, beginning with a M 5.2 shock at 12:28 on the 14 January.
1907 Kingston earthquake
The 1907 Kingston earthquake which shook the capital of the island of Jamaica with a magnitude of 6.2 on the moment magnitude scale. It is described by the United States Geological Survey as one of the world's deadliest earthquakes recorded in history. Every building in Kingston was damaged by the earthquake and subsequent fires, which lasted for three hours before any efforts could be made to check them, culminating in the death of about 1,000 people, and causing approximately $30 million in material damage ($942.21 million in 2022). Shortly after, a tsunami was reported on the north coast of Jamaica, with a maximum wave height of about 2 m (6-8 ft).
