natural disaster: Quick Facts

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Last updated

Nov. 8, 2026

News •

You can go your own way: US diverges from world on emergency preparedness • Nov. 2, 2026, 7:02 AM ET (The Guardian)

Photos and Videos

Vast open plain with cracked, dry mud and sparse vegetation under a clear sky, illustrating drought conditions.

tropical cyclone

A wide brown landslide cuts down a forested hillside and through rows of houses in Santa Tecla, near San Salvador, El Salvador, leaving a visible path of destruction.

Map of the Pacific Ring of Fire highlighting the tectonic plate boundaries around the Pacific Ocean. The map shows spreading and converging plate boundaries, volcanic arcs, and marks major active volcanoes with star symbols. A pink shaded area outlines the Ring of Fire, tracing the regions of frequent earthquakes and volcanic activity along the edges of the Pacific Plate, including the west coasts of the Americas, eastern Asia, and the islands of the western Pacific.

Map of the contiguous United States shaded to show the average annual frequency of tornadoes per 10,000 square miles from 1950 to 1995. The highest frequencies, indicated by red and orange, are concentrated in Tornado Alley, stretching from northern Texas through Oklahoma and Kansas to Nebraska, with lower frequencies in surrounding regions.

Can We Predict Natural Disasters?

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Topics

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