History of Disaster Relief, Middle East

The Middle East is a loosely defined region between southwestern Asia and northeastern Africa, encompassing the Fertile Crescent, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Iranian Plateau. It is both ethnically and religiously diverse; home to Turks, Persians, Jews, Kurds, Azeris, Greeks, Syriacs, and others, and is the original home of the Abrahamic religions of Judaism Christianity, and Islam. Some usages of the terms the Middle East, or the Greater Middle East, encompass many of the Arabic-speaking countries of North Africa, the Islamic republics of Pakistan and Afghanistan, and former Soviet republics in Central Asia. In the last century, the Middle East has become strongly associated with, and transformed by, the plentiful crude oil of the Persian Gulf nations. Though it has long been associated with social ...