Contemporary
2011 Christchurch Earthquake: NZ's Deadliest Since 1931
185 people were killed, most in two collapsed office buildings; much of the central city was demolished and rebuilt over the following decade.
Era · 1945 – present
Contemporary
From the Cold War and the Space Race to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the world we live in today.
Contemporary
Libyan Civil War (2011): Uprising, NATO Intervention and Gaddafi
Rebel forces backed by NATO airstrikes overthrew Gaddafi, who was captured and killed near Sirte on 20 October 2011; Libya then slid into prolonged instability.
Contemporary
Egyptian Revolution of 2011: Tahrir Square and Mubarak's Fall
Mubarak resigned on 11 February 2011 and handed power to the army; a troubled transition ended with the military's removal of President Morsi in July 2013.
Contemporary
Killing of Osama bin Laden (2011): The Abbottabad Raid
Bin Laden was killed with four others in a 40-minute raid; his body was buried at sea and US-Pakistani relations were badly strained.
Contemporary
Syrian Civil War: From the 2011 Uprising to the Fall of Assad
After more than 13 years of war, an estimated 500,000-600,000 deaths and the displacement of over half the population, the Assad government collapsed on 8 December 2024.
Contemporary
Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami (2011): Japan's Great Disaster
About 15,900 people were confirmed dead and some 2,500 remain missing; hundreds of kilometres of coast were devastated and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident followed.
Contemporary
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster (2011): Meltdowns in Japan
Three reactors melted down and released radioactive material; about 150,000-165,000 people were evacuated and the accident was rated INES level 7.
Contemporary
Hurricane Sandy (2012): Superstorm Hits New York and New Jersey
Sandy killed at least 230 people across eight countries and caused about 65-70 billion US dollars of damage in the United States, prompting major coastal resilience programmes.
Contemporary
Higgs Boson Discovery (2012) at CERN's Large Hadron Collider
Discovery of the Higgs boson confirmed the last missing particle of the Standard Model and led to the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics for Englert and Higgs.
Contemporary
CRISPR-Cas9 Gene Editing (2012): Doudna and Charpentier
CRISPR-Cas9 became the most widely used tool for editing genes, earning Doudna and Charpentier the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Contemporary
Curiosity Rover (2012): Sky Crane Landing on Mars
Curiosity landed safely and found that an ancient lake in Gale Crater once offered conditions suitable for microbial life.
Contemporary
Rana Plaza Collapse (2013): Bangladesh's Garment Factory Disaster
The collapse killed 1,134 people and injured about 2,500, leading to the legally binding Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh and new scrutiny of global clothing supply chains.