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Many people would have been displaced in 1918-19 (though I can't find a good number). I think mostly they would have been soldiers since it was largely fought outside of cities. In any case in 2013 there are more than 1 billion people [1] who travel internationally each year so that condition isn't unique to the spanish flu.

[1] Wikipedia - tourism

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Yeah, I meant soldiers. They travelled far, came into close contact with large numbers of other soldiers and then brought back the flu with them to their home communities when they were repatriated.

Modern mass tourism is pretty bad as well, but it's a far cry from having all of the young men in your town getting shipped out and back in again.

Soldiers wouldn't be infecting Pacific Islands, far northern mining camps, where scientists first tried to get a copy of its genetic material, people in and around Brevig Mission, Alaska (fatality rate 85%) where the first useful sample came from.

It's been awhile since I've read up on it, but the speed at which it spread, prior to air travel, was frighteningly fast.

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