Underreported
Significant disasters from the last 14 days — GDACS Orange/Red alerts and M5.5+ earthquakes — and armed-conflict events from the last two months, each beside the measured news-coverage response of the affected country (coverage share after the event vs the country's own two-week baseline). The attention gap, quantified: severity is not a judgment, and neither is silence — but both are measurable.
Armed conflict
Conflicts from the last two months with an estimated 20 or more deaths, grouped by warring parties (UCDP codes each incident separately; UCDP preliminary “candidate” data, revised in later releases), beside the same measured coverage response. Research has long shown this is where the attention gap runs deepest: US networks have covered under 5% of African disasters versus over 15% of European ones, and it takes roughly 45× the deaths in Africa to draw equal coverage (Eisensee & Strömberg, QJE 2007).
| Event | Country | Deaths (best est.) | Coverage response |
|---|---|---|---|
| Government of Russia vs Government of Ukrainestate-based · 33 events · Jul 21 – Aug 31 · Donetsk oblast, Kharkiv oblast, Kyiv oblast +4 more | Ukraine | 5,286145 civilian | -3% · muted |
| Government of Yemen vs Forces of the Presidential Leadership Councilstate-based · 28 events · Jul 22 – Aug 29 · Dali governorate, Taiz governorate, Marib governorate +4 more | Yemen | 1,25119 civilian | +31% |
| Unidentified group vs Unidentified groupstate-based · 11 events · Jul 22 – Aug 25 · Zamfara state, Kebbi state, Niger state +1 more | Nigeria | 3545 civilian | -5% · muted |
| Government of Sudan vs SFAstate-based · 17 events · Jul 21 – Aug 27 · North Darfur state, Blue Nile state, North Kordofan state +1 more | Sudan | 305250 civilian | -1% · muted |
| Government of Pakistan vs TTPstate-based · 23 events · Jul 22 – Aug 31 · Balochistan province, Khyber Pakhtunkwa province | Pakistan | 30211 civilian | +3% · muted |
| Government of Nigeria vs ISstate-based · 12 events · Jul 21 – Aug 28 · Borno state, Yobe state, Adamawa state | Nigeria | 187 | +5% · muted |
| Government of Pakistan vs BRASstate-based · 25 events · Jul 23 – Aug 31 · Balochistan province | Pakistan | 184 | +7% · muted |
| IS vs Civiliansone-sided · 12 events · Jul 21 – Aug 29 · Nord Kivu province, Ituri province, Haut-Uélé province | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 155155 civilian | -18% · muted |
| Unidentified group vs Civiliansone-sided · 9 events · Jul 23 – Aug 30 · Zamfara state, Kaduna state, Niger state +2 more | Nigeria | 133133 civilian | +3% · muted |
| Government of Somalia vs Al-Shabaabstate-based · 13 events · Jul 21 – Aug 29 · Hiran region, Middle Shabelle region, Lower Shabelle region +1 more | Somalia | 130 | +0% · muted |
| Government of Ethiopia vs Fanostate-based · 10 events · Jul 27 – Aug 18 · Amhara state, Benishangul-Gumuz state, Oromiya state | Ethiopia | 12812 civilian | +15% · muted |
| Unidentified group vs Unidentified groupnon-state · 8 events · Jul 27 – Aug 25 · Zamfara state, Benue state, Niger state +2 more | Nigeria | 1135 civilian | -1% · muted |
| Unidentified group vs Unidentified groupnon-state · 2 events · Aug 9 – Aug 27 · Warap state | South Sudan | 109 | -25% · muted |
| Government of Mali vs JNIMstate-based · 4 events · Jul 26 – Aug 9 · Segou region, Koulikoro region, Tombouctou region +1 more | Mali | 857 civilian | +6% · muted |
| Government of Burkina Faso vs JNIMstate-based · 8 events · Jul 21 – Aug 25 · Tapoa region, Sourou region, Soum region +1 more | Burkina Faso | 831 civilian | +3% · muted |
| Viv Ansanm vs Civiliansone-sided · 4 events · Jul 31 – Aug 23 · Ouest department | Haiti | 6720 civilian | +21% · muted |
| Government of Ethiopia vs Civiliansone-sided · 4 events · Aug 18 – Aug 21 · Oromiya state | Ethiopia | 6666 civilian | +9% · muted |
| Unidentified group vs Unidentified groupstate-based · 6 events · Jul 24 – Aug 16 · Balochistan province, Khyber Pakhtunkwa province | Pakistan | 58 | +16% · muted |
| Government of Burkina Faso vs Civiliansone-sided · 2 events · Aug 5 · Liptako region | Burkina Faso | 4848 civilian | -27% · muted |
| Government of Niger vs ISstate-based · 3 events · Jul 24 – Aug 21 · Tillabéri region, Dosso region | Niger | 467 civilian | -2% · muted |
| Government of Ethiopia vs TPLFstate-based · 2 events · Aug 1 – Aug 10 · Tigray state | Ethiopia | 453 civilian | +23% · muted |
| Government of Nigeria vs Forces of Abasu Aikistate-based · Jul 26 · Katsina state | Nigeria | 41 | +9% · muted |
| Government of Ethiopia vs OLAstate-based · 2 events · Jul 28 – Aug 21 · Oromiya state | Ethiopia | 40 | +24% · muted |
| Government of Somalia vs Forces of Laftagareenstate-based · Aug 17 · Bay region | Somalia | 40 | +33% |
| Government of Israel vs Hamasstate-based · 4 events · Jul 21 – Aug 19 · Gaza Strip | Israel | 377 civilian | -3% · muted |
| Government of Myanmar vs ULAstate-based · 4 events · Aug 1 – Aug 24 · Rakhine state, Chin state | Myanmar | 3535 civilian | -9% · muted |
| Government of Myanmar vs SCEFstate-based · 4 events · Jul 25 – Aug 21 · Bago region, Kayah state, Sagaing region | Myanmar | 3434 civilian | +16% · muted |
| IS vs JASnon-state · 2 events · Jul 26 – Aug 3 · Borno state | Nigeria | 34 | +4% · muted |
| Government of Nigeria vs Forces of Bello Turjistate-based · Aug 28 · Sokoto state | Nigeria | 30 | +14% · muted |
| Government of Mozambique vs ISstate-based · 3 events · Jul 23 – Aug 1 · Cabo Delgado province | Mozambique | 28 | -11% · muted |
| Government of DR Congo vs AFCstate-based · 2 events · Aug 7 – Aug 27 · Sud Kivu province | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 285 civilian | -13% · muted |
| Government of Yemen vs Forces of the Presidential Leadership Councilstate-based · Jul 29 | Iraq | 26 | +39% |
| Government of Afghanistan vs ISstate-based · Aug 16 · Nangarhar province | Afghanistan | 25 | -18% · muted |
| Fulani vs Mwaghavulnon-state · Aug 17 · Plateau state | Nigeria | 25 | -6% · muted |
| Government of Nigeria vs Forces of Isiya Kwashen Garwastate-based · Aug 18 · Katsina state | Nigeria | 24 | -9% · muted |
| Government of Pakistan vs IMPstate-based · 3 events · Aug 2 – Aug 21 · Khyber Pakhtunkwa province | Pakistan | 20 | +21% · muted |
| Government of Russia vs Government of Ukrainestate-based · 3 events · Aug 8 · Kursk oblast, Belgorod oblast | Russia | 20 | +9% · muted |
| Fulani vs Kambarinon-state · Aug 12 · Niger state | Nigeria | 20 | -8% · muted |
Local voices
Recent reporting from Global Voices, whose contributors translate local and citizen media that international wires rarely carry — a qualitative counterpart to the gap measured above.
- How Cambodia’s law on ‘freedom parks’ curtailed people’s right to protest
CambodiaMong PalatinoOct 2
- The sound of resistance
AustraliaKyrgyzstanNepalSydney AllenOct 1
- West-to-east energy, east-to-west computing: The Uyghur costs of China’s digital order
ChinaAsiye UyghurOct 1
- In Brazil’s capital, residents grow their own heat-fighting solutions
BrazilDialogue EarthSep 30
- Who can speak on behalf of the people? The new frontiers of protest in the Sahel
Burkina FasoMaliNigerJean SovonSep 30
- When the right to protest remains, but demonstrating comes at a price
- Equating protest with terrorism: A narrative against dissent
- When telcos shut down the internet, they shut down protests for the government
Democratic Republic of the CongoRanking Digital RightsSep 28
- Bye-bye, Birdie: The Calypso King of the World dies at 91
GrenadaTrinidad and TobagoJanine Mendes-FrancoSep 28
- After five years of war, how do Ukrainian small businesses survive?
UkraineNevena BorisovaSep 28
- Beyond protest: Mob violence and the struggle for institutional response in Bangladesh
BangladeshMaksuda AkterSep 27
- ‘We cannot take it anymore’: Haiti’s informal vendors protest over gang warfare
HaitiJude Pierre LouisSep 27
Headlines by Global Voices, licensed CC BY 3.0.
Disaster events from GDACS (UN/EC) and USGS. Conflict events and fatality estimates from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (GED); candidate data is preliminary and revised in later releases, and “best estimate” is UCDP's most conservative documented count. Coverage response = mean coverage share of the affected country from the event day onward vs its trailing 14-day baseline — see methodology. A “muted” marker means a severe event whose coverage response stayed under +25%. Derived data CC BY 4.0 (“Geotone / GDELT”).
One honest limit: we measure coverage, so we can expose stories the world's press underweights — but where no outlet reported at all, our numbers are silent too. Mortality surveys routinely find tolls in under-covered conflicts far above anything that ever reached the news.