![WFP Annual Report 1998](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/images/publication/1998%20Annual%20Report_Eng_LOWRES_Page_01.jpg?itok=qnlGNcqE)
The year 1998 was marked by an unprecedented combination of events that pushed up world hunger levels: climatic catastrophes like Hurricane Mitch in Central America and the Caribbean; widespread floods in Asia; economic collapse in Indonesia; a resumption of bitter civil wars in Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Kosovo and Sierra Leone; and steady, long-term conflict, as in Somalia and southern Sudan, a condition which slowly drains the ability of civilian populations to survive.