Natural disaster: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

A natural disaster is a natural event with catastrophic consequences for living things in the vicinity.

Common forms of natural disasters include:

• avalanches
• earthquakes
• floods
• forest fires
• heat wave
• hurricanes
• ice storm
• lahar
• landslides
• tornadoes
• tsunami
• volcanic eruptions

Extreme forms of natural disaster:

• impact event, the impact of a large extraterrestrial object with the Earth
• solar flares

Compare with man-made disasters.

See also: emergency, emergency preparedness, civil defense, disaster relief, list of disasters, weather disasters