This largely man-made crisis, occasionally worsened by drought and erratic rains, has been brought on by catastrophic agricultural policies, sweeping economic collapse and a ruling party that has used farmland and food as weapons in its ruthless — and so far successful — quest to hang on to power.
Almost overnight the price structure for tulips collapsed, sweeping away fortunes and leaving behind financial ruin for many ordinary Dutch families.
As with the fall of Hosni Mubarak in February 2011, Egypt's disciplined and professional army was taking upon itself the duty of sweeping away a collapsing administration and stepping into the breach.On July 3rd Mr Morsi was deposed and detained, as were many other leaders of the Brotherhood.
By the 9th century, the crisis of the Classic Maya collapse was sweeping across the region, with populations plummeting and city after city falling into silence.
My favorite was Queen of the Sun, a gorgeously shot film about the disastrous agricultural effects of the bee colony collapse epidemic sweeping the Western world.
Instead, the patterns of under-dominance and epistatic incompatibility suggest that individual mutations cause the fitness collapse by sweeping through one of the parent populations.
We saw tsunamis sweeping over towns; ceilings collapsing and bright orange fires in the black night.
"I don't want to lose you" Peaches sings, as the two men dance with her, with sweeping movements, begging moments, collapsing behind her – crushed with the power of passion and the pain of rejection.
The collapse of morale sweeping Labour ranks was laid bare yesterday when Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, and Tom Watson, one of Gordon Brown's closest political allies, revealed that they were quitting the government during a chaotic day that often appeared to be spiralling out of Downing Street's control.
Two days after the collapse, Mayor Michael A. Nutter introduced sweeping changes to the city's demolition rules in an effort to force private contactors to adopt the same standards as city agencies.
