Q: Which one of the following countries has been suffering from decades of civil strife and food shortages and was in news in the recent past for its very severe famine?
(a)Angola
(b)Costa Rica
(c)Ecuador
(d)Somalia
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Disasters & Humanitarian Issues — UPSC Prelims Previous Year Questions
11 questions from UPSC CSE Prelims GS Paper 1 on Disasters & Humanitarian Issues (Current Affairs). Spanning from 2001 to 2023. Practice with show/hide answers and detailed explanations.
11
Questions
9
Years
9
Easy
2
Moderate
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Year-wise Distribution
What UPSC Asks About Disasters & Humanitarian Issues
With climate events intensifying, UPSC has steadily increased its focus on disasters and humanitarian assistance. Eleven questions from 2001-2023 span topics like the Sendai Framework, National Disaster Management Authority, cyclone nomenclature, pandemic response funds, and Sphere standards. The Prelims angle blends static fundamentals—Acts, institutional architecture, global agreements—with dynamic current affairs such as recent earthquakes, industrial accidents or UN humanitarian appeals. Questions are often statement-based, testing whether aspirants can distinguish between mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery or recall which agency leads international coordination. An effective approach is to map every major calamity reported in the last 18 months to its scientific cause, impact statistics and the legal/financial mechanisms activated by India and multilateral bodies.
Related Current Affairs Sub-topics
All Disasters & Humanitarian Issues Questions
Q: Consider the following statements: 1. Bidibidi is a large refugee settlement in north-western Kenya. 2. Some people who fled from South Sudan civil war live in Bidibidi. 3. Some people who fled from civil war in Somalia live in Dadaab refugee complex in Kenya. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a)1 and 2
(b)2 only
(c)2 and 3
(d)3 only
Q: Very recently, in which of the following countries have lakhs of people either suffered from severe famine/acute malnutrition or died due to starvation caused by war/ethnic conflicts?
(a)Angola and Zambia
(b)Morocco and Tunisia
(c)Venezuela and Colombia
(d)Yemen and South Sudan
Q: Among the following, which were frequently mentioned in the news for the outbreak of Ebola virus recently?
(a)Syria and Jordan
(b)Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia
(c)Philippines and Papua New Guinea
(d)Jamaica, Haiti and Surinam
Q: A very big refugee camp called Dadaab, recently in the news, is located in
(a)Ethiopia
(b)Kenya
(c)Somalia
(d)Sudan
Q: C. Rangarajan has been actively involved in the Pan-Asian Commission addressing to which one of the following issues?
(a)Promotion of tourism in the Asian region
(b)Impact of HIV/AIDS in the Asian region
(c)Promotion of free trade in the Asian region
(d)Higher technical education in the universities in the Asian region
Q: What was the main reason for which Niger was in the news in recent times?
(a)Many deaths due to AIDS
(b)Fierce civil war
(c)Intense fighting with Algeria
(d)Famine and starvation
Q: What is Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)?
(a)An agency formed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to check misuse of drugs by sports persons
(b)A non-governmental organization which specializes in international humanitarian aid and emergency medical assistance
(c)An organization to develop applications of nanotechnology in medicine
(d)An organization of medical practitioners funded by the European Union which carries out research against spread of AIDS
Q: In which one of the following countries did hundreds of people die in the year 2004 as a result of flooding and mudslides triggered by Tropical Storm Jeanne?
(a)Colombia
(b)Haiti
(c)Sudan
(d)Ghana
Q: Where was the world’s largest ever meet on HIV/AIDS held in July, 2004?
(a)Bangkok
(b)Singapore
(c)New York
(d)Rome
Q: A great landslide caused by an earthquake killed hundreds of people in January 2001 near
(a)San Salvador
(b)San Jose
(c)Managua
(d)Guatemala City
Frequently Asked Questions
What type of UPSC questions dominate this sub-topic?▼
Statement-based items linking recent disasters to frameworks like NDMA Guidelines, Sendai Targets, SDRF funding rules and international charters such as the INSARAG or Sphere Handbook.
Which current sources are indispensable for disaster-related preparation?▼
The Daily PIB releases, UNDRR reports, NDMA guidelines, Economic Survey disaster chapters, and reputed newspapers’ explainer articles after every major calamity.