In 1984 a combination of civil war and bad harvests caused famine in Ethiopia. In March that year Ethiopia reported that its grain harvest was 1 million tonnes below the level required to feed its population and that it would need help. The international community was slow to react and relief agencies struggled to feed the displaced and starving refugees the crisis created. In one of the first examples of the positive power of mass media coverage of disasters, public campaigns in Western Europe raised millions of pounds and saved many lives. However, nearly a million Ethiopians died and the region continues to suffer from food shortages.
Report by the charity group One into the famine of 1984–85:
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