Kazakhstan
In Kazakhstan, protests against high gas prices started on January second, 2022, due to the government, on the first, lifting an oil price cap. On the fifth, a national emergency was declared, and the President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, requested the military pact, CSTO, with the member nations Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Armenia, to deploy troops to settle the protests. They agreed, deploying their troops on the same day, with them only to start to withdraw on the 13th. Tokayev, on the 7th, called protesters “bandits and terrorists.”, and told troops to “Shoot to kill”. The unrest lasted for 9 days. On the fifteenth, a reported 206 protesters were killed, 9,900 arrested, and 19 members of CSTO killed.
By at least the 5th, the protests turned anti-government. Videos and reports of police violence, as well as the introduction of CSTO troops, caused the Kazakhstan government to be accused of human rights abuses. Part of what sparked the protests was high gas prices, partially influenced by corruption and nepotism. For 6 months, the fuel gas price caps were restored, and the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, and his cabinet. In Almaty, a city hit hard by the protests, officials said that 400 stores were looted, burnt, or damaged by the 5th.
Tonga
On the 14th of January, 2022, the largest volcanic eruption in the past 20 years (in terms of volcanic explosivity) started aboveground. After over 5 years of inactivity, on December 20th, 2021, it erupted, causing New Zealand to issue a volcanic ash warning to airlines. 24 days after that eruption ended, the second explosion of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano happened, causing tsunami warnings as far away as Fairbanks, Alaska (over 6,100 miles). So far, 2 people have died. Peru’s late tsunami warning, finally being issued on the 16th, the same day as the 2 deaths, both being in Peru. The United States reports at least 3 injuries, and Japan 1 more, with many missing, and many Tongan residents struggling to breathe. Additionally, the sulfuric acid fallout way causes health issues in citizens near the ash.