This list of mass evacuations includes emergency evacuations of a large number of people in a short period of time. An emergency evacuation is the movement of persons from a dangerous place due to the threat or occurrence of a disastrous event whether from natural or man made causes, or as the result of war.
480 BC – During The Second Persian invasion of Greece, Greek officer of the state and navy commander Themistocles ordered the evacuation of Athens as a strategic countermeasure to the approaching Persian army, leading to 100,000 inhabitants being displaced in the late summer.
1845–1855 – The Great Famine results in no less than 2.1 million people fleeing Ireland. As well, roughly 1 million people died. The population of Ireland fell from 8.18 million in 1841 to 6.55 million in 1851, though the population continued to fall until 1946. The population of Ireland remains lower than recorded in 1841 in the present day.
Between March 1937 and October 1938, as the Nationalists began to gain more ground in the Spanish Civil War, nearly 3,000 children were evacuated from the Second Spanish Republic to the Soviet Union. Most of the children were from the Basque Country, Asturias, and Cantabria. On June 12, 1937, over 1,500 children and 75 tutors (teachers, doctors, and nurses) left the Port of Santurtzi in the Basque province of Bizkaia on board the ship "Habana." Similarly, nearly 4,000 children were evacuated to the United Kingdom, also on the "Habana", with HMS Hood as an escort. They became, and are still known as, "los niños de la guerra" ("the war children") or the "Gernika Generation" (as regards Basques).
1939–1940 and June 1944 – The entire population of FinnishKarelia, 522,000 people, was evacuated during the Winter War. Some 260,000 of these returned home during the Continuation War but were evacuated again in June 1944.
October 1941 – A mass evacuation of Moscow was ordered during the Battle of Moscow estimated 1.5 million to 3 million GermanWehrmacht. Two million inhabitants were displaced within two weeks.
1942–1945 – Evacuation and deportation of Ingrian Finns from Ingria during and after World War II. About the entire population of Ingrian Finns (estimating 70,000 people) was evacuated from Leningrad Oblast, Russia to Estonia and Finland. Those who returned after the war faced deportations to other parts of Russia.
July–August 1971 – 18 million people migrated from Bangladesh (then known as East Pakistan) to India to escape the military forces of Pakistan (then known as West Pakistan). This was the largest and bloodiest exodus in human history, with 4 million dead.
26–31 December 1974 – As a result of Cyclone Tracy destroying over 85 percent of the city, more than 60,000 people from Darwin, Australia were evacuated from the area, leaving just 10,000 people (mainly adult males) to begin the massive cleanup.
July 1974 – The complete, spontaneous evacuation in a few hours of Varosha before the advancing Turkish army; the population feared a massacre.
June 1988 – The Poole explosion caused 3,500 people to be evacuated out of the town centre in the biggest peacetime evacuation the country had seen since the World War II.[5][6]
July–August 1998 – Nearly 14 million people were evacuated because of massive flooding and landslides in north and central China, and 5.6 million houses were destroyed. An additional 300,000 people were evacuated on August 7 in anticipation of a possible breach of dikes along the Yangtze River.[11]
1999 – The Kosovo War led to 800,000 refugees, not all of them urban residents, leaving Kosovo and being accommodated for up to three months in other parts of Europe.
September 1999 – The size of Hurricane Floyd, its intensity, and its track prompted public officials to launch the largest evacuation in U.S. history, with an estimated 3 million people fleeing the storm.[12]
21st century
April 29, 2001 – 77,000 inhabitants (around 2/3 of the population of Vicenza, Italy) were evacuated for several hours so that an unexploded bomb, originally dropped in World War II, could be safely disarmed.[13]
August 2002 – The 2002 European floods led to the evacuation of 50,000 residents of Prague, Czech Republic, on 13 August, with a total of 200,000 Czechs during the second week of August.[15] Elsewhere in Europe, more than 120,000 people were evacuated in the German city of Dresden, 36,000 in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, and 1,500 in Hungary.[16]
September 2004 – Evacuation orders were issued for over 2.8 million residents in advance of Hurricane Frances, potentially the largest in Florida's history.[17]FEMA later granted assistance to 229,500 applicants largely associated with relocation expenses.[18]
August 2005 – Hurricane Katrina led to a mass evacuation of the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, with approximately 80% of the city's population of 484,000 evacuating before the storm struck.
September 22, 2005 – At least 2.5 million evacuated coastal Texas and Louisiana due to the approach of Hurricane Rita.[20] This is the second largest evacuation in U.S. history, and the third-largest peacetime evacuation in modern times.
July to August 2006 – The evacuation of nearly 15,000 American citizens from Lebanon during July and August 2006 during the 2006 Lebanon War was one of the largest overseas evacuations of American citizens in recent history.
October 2007 – More than 1.4 million people were evacuated in the Chinese provinces of Zhejiang and Fujian in anticipation of Typhoon Krosa.[21]
October 2007 – California wildfires forced more than 900,000 people in Southern California to evacuate, making it the largest evacuation in California's history[22] and the largest evacuation for fire in United States history.[23]
June 2013 – Nearly 1,000,000 people evacuated in 12 days from Uttarakhand, India due to a flash flood and landslide. This operation was completed by the Indian Air Force, ITBP, NDRF, and local authorities. Helicopters were widely used because road networks were severely damaged.
October 2013 – Nearly 975,000 people (world Bank report says close to 1,000,000 people) were evacuated in 36 hours from the coastal areas of Odisha (more than 850,000) and Andhra Pradesh (nearly 90,000) in the face of Cyclone Phailin. This operation was completed by the Indian Air Force, ITBP, ODRF, and local authorities.
April 2015 – Operation Maitri was carried out by India to evacuate stranded Indian citizens and foreigners from Nepal and humanitarian relief during the Nepal earthquake of magnitude 8.8.
April 2015 – Operation Raahat (India) was carried out by India to evacuate stranded Indian citizens from Yemen. A total of 4640 Indian citizens and 960 foreign nationals were rescued.[30]
May 2016 – Approximately 88,000 people were evacuated from Fort McMurray (Canada) due to a wildfire that grew out of control quickly. This was the largest evacuation in the Province of Alberta's history. Evacuees went north to Oil Sands camps, and communities to the south.[31]
February 2017 – Evacuation of 188,000 civilians from the city of Oroville, California and other towns near the Oroville Dam due to impending failure of auxiliary spillway systems.[34]
July to September 2017 – Evacuation of Cariboo Regional District, British Columbia, Canada, resulted in 35,616 people under evacuation order or alert over 77 days due to a record-setting wildfire season, with 996,141 hectares burnt in 232 fires, and 60 homes and 167 other structures destroyed over 48,099 km2. No deaths were recorded.[35]
October 26–27, 2019 – Threat of the Kincade Fire forced at least 185,000 people from their homes in Sonoma County, California, making it the largest evacuation in that county's history. The peak winds on October 27 were expected to be hurricane-force, the strongest in several years, making fire spread very easily. Also, memories of the devastating October 2017 fires and the 2018 Camp Fire were etched in people's minds.[37]
August 2021 – Kabul Air lift was the result of American and NATO-ISAF forces withdrawal from Afghanistan after the February 2020 Doha Agreement, the 2021 Taliban offensive against the Afghan Government, and the collapse of the Afghan National Government and Armed forces. The sudden takeover of major cities including the Capitol of Kabul led to a rush of foreign governments, citizens, and panicked Afghan citizens to Hamid Karzai International Airport. The United States Central Command in conjunction with NATO Allies and private air carriers evacuated more than 120,000 people over the course of two weeks including the remnant of the Afghan Air Force and Special Forces stationed at Kabul. The evacuation was increasingly dangerous as threats of terror attacks from ISIS-K and radical groups increased. Resulting in a suicide bomb attack killing 13 US service members killed and 200 civilians.
September 2021 – The 2021 Cumbre Vieja volcanic eruption has caused the evacuation of around 7,000 people, and the lava flow has covered over 670 hectares.[38]
2022 – Ukrainian refugee crisis The Ukrainian refugee crisis is a mass evacuation due to the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Many refugees from Ukraine are fleeing their homes to try and escape conflict. Many refugees travel to Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, and other European countries. The UK are also supplying visas for people to travel up to the United Kingdom. People are also donating clothes and humanitarian aid to those who are in need.
2023 – Approximately 25,900 residents[39] of the Northwest Territories, Canada, had to evacuate throughout the 2023 summer wildfire season due to multiple wildfires threatening nine separate communities. The capital city of the territory, Yellowknife, with a population of 20,340, declared an evacuation order[40] and requested for those with vehicles to leave by road during a 36 hours period in which the fire behavior was expected to be minimal, given a fire was approaching alongside the only road out of the community. Those who could not leave by vehicle were evacuated by airplane to Alberta, Canada. The 2023 wildfire season in Canada has seen the most area burned in Canada's recorded history.
October 23-24, 2024 - During Cyclone Dana over 1.1 million residents of both Bangladesh and India evacuated due to the severity and intensification Dana went under.
^Shelby, A. Red River Rising: The Anatomy of a Flood and the Survival of an American City. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press/Borealis Books, 2003.