01Explorer
Explore 905 hazards
Search names, aliases and definitions, and filter by domain, origin, onset, footprint, predictability and risk class; every hazard opens on its domain page with its relations.
ATMOAtmosphere and weatherHazards that live in the air column: storms, winds, precipitation extremes, thermal extremes, airborne particles and large-scale circulation anomalies.WATERWater systemsHazards of fresh and salt water: floods, water deficit, sea-level and wave hazards, ocean-state extremes and water-quality degradation.CRYOIce and snowHazards of the frozen Earth: snowpack and avalanche, glacier and permafrost change, floating ice.GEOSolid EarthHazards of the crust and ground: fault shaking, eruptions, slope failure, ground deformation and surface erosion.SPACESpace and near-EarthHazards that arrive from or act in space: solar-terrestrial storms, impacts and orbital debris.ECOLand and ecosystemsHazards of the living land and sea surface: vegetation fire, forest stress, land degradation, biodiversity loss and climate-state shifts.PLANETPlanetary boundaries and Earth-system tippingHazards of the Earth system as a whole: transgression of the boundaries that keep the planet in a stable state, tipping of large climate, ice, ocean and biome components, carbon-cycle feedbacks, and rare deep-time and cosmic catastrophes.POLLPollution and hazardous substancesHarmful substances in air, water, soil and food, toxic releases, ionising radiation and waste-containment failures.HEALTHHealth and biosecurityDisease and biological harm to people, animals and plants, grouped by transmission route, plus systemic biological risks, chronic and mental-health burdens, drug resistance and the failure of health systems.INFRABuilt systemsFailure and accident hazards of structures, energy, water, digital and space-service networks, mobility, food systems, cities, ageing assets and industrial plants.CYBERInformation and cyber-physical systemsCompromise or failure of information systems, including attacks that reach physical processes, identity and trust services, systemic cyber events and platforms everything else depends on.TECHFrontier and exponential technologyHazards that arise from frontier and exponential technologies: artificial intelligence, biotechnology, advanced materials, quantum, neurotechnology, autonomy, climate intervention, space systems, digital concentration, advanced manufacturing and energy-transition technology.SOCSociety, conflict and economyViolence, geopolitical and nuclear confrontation, conflict-induced harm, humanitarian crises, governance and cohesion failure, crime, demographic and labour transitions, macro-fiscal and financial-system shocks, and loss of heritage.SYSSystemic and compound eventsEvents defined by interaction rather than by one process: supply-chain disruption, cascading failure, compound multi-hazard events and the structural fragility (concentration, coupling, polycrisis) that lets them spread.
Every hazard family
Families group hazards by the process that drives them; systemic, compound, planetary and frontier-technology hazards are first-class, not footnotes.
| Family | Domain | Hazards | Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| Convective storms | Atmosphere and weather | Thunderstorm, Lightning strike, Downburst, Tornado, Waterspout, Hail, Squall, Derecho, Fire-generated thunderstorm, Dry lightning storm … | 11 |
| Cyclonic storm systems | Atmosphere and weather | Tropical cyclone, Subtropical cyclone, Extratropical cyclone, Low-pressure system, Mediterranean tropical-like cyclone, Polar low, Rapid cyclone intensification, Explosive cyclogenesis | 8 |
| Damaging wind | Atmosphere and weather | Windstorm, Gale, Downslope windstorm, Clear-air turbulence | 4 |
| Precipitation extremes | Atmosphere and weather | Intense rainfall, Heavy snowfall, Snowstorm, Blizzard, Lake-effect snow band, Freezing rain, Structural icing | 7 |
| Thermal extremes | Atmosphere and weather | Heatwave, Humid heat stress, Cold wave, Livestock winter disaster, Hard freeze, Frost, Rapid thaw, Extreme night-time heat, Urban heat island | 9 |
| Airborne particles and low visibility | Atmosphere and weather | Fog, Dust storm, Dust haze, Haze, Smoke plume, Airborne allergen surge | 6 |
| Large-scale circulation anomalies | Atmosphere and weather | Atmospheric river, Atmospheric blocking, Tropical Pacific climate swing, Monsoon failure, Polar vortex disruption, Indian Ocean dipole event, North Atlantic pressure-seesaw extreme | 7 |
| Surface radiation extremes | Atmosphere and weather | Extreme ultraviolet exposure, Stratospheric ozone loss episode | 2 |
| Freshwater inundation | Water systems | River flood, Flash flood, Surface-water flood, Groundwater flood, Snowmelt flood, Ice-jam flood, Reservoir release flood, Natural-dam outburst flood, Lake-level flood | 9 |
| Water deficit | Water systems | Meteorological drought, Agricultural drought, Hydrological drought, Groundwater depletion, Flash drought, Water supply shortfall, Megadrought, Lake and inland sea desiccation, Post-peak glacier meltwater decline | 9 |
| Coastal and sea-level hazards | Water systems | Storm surge, Storm tide, Coastal flood, Estuary flood, High-tide flooding, Tsunami, Seiche, Rogue wave, Dangerous surf, Rip current … | 13 |
| Ocean-state extremes | Water systems | Marine heatwave, Ocean acidification, Marine oxygen depletion, Upper-ocean stratification increase, Marine cold spell, Lake and river heatwave | 6 |
| Water-quality degradation | Water systems | Eutrophication, Harmful algal bloom, Freshwater salinisation, Sargassum seaweed influx | 4 |
| Snowpack hazards | Ice and snow | Snow avalanche, Snow drought, Rain-on-snow event | 3 |
| Glacier, ice-sheet and permafrost change | Ice and snow | Glacial lake outburst flood, Glacier or ice-mass collapse, Glacier mass loss, Ice-sheet mass loss, Permafrost thaw, Ice-shelf disintegration, Subglacial outburst flood, Glacier surge, Permafrost thaw slump, Rock glacier destabilisation | 10 |
| Floating ice | Ice and snow | Sea ice, Iceberg and ice-floe drift, Sea-ice loss, Lake and river ice loss, Shoreline ice shove | 5 |
| Fault shaking and rupture | Solid Earth | Earthquake, Induced earthquake, Aftershock sequence, Fault surface rupture, Soil liquefaction, Ground fissure, Earthquake swarm | 7 |
| Eruption products and unrest | Solid Earth | Volcanic unrest, Lava flow, Volcanic ash fall, Volcanic ash cloud, Volcanic ballistic projectiles, Pyroclastic flow, Lahar, Volcanic gas and aerosol emission, Volcano flank collapse, Phreatic and hydrothermal explosion … | 12 |
| Slope failure and mass movement | Solid Earth | Rockfall, Topple, Slope slide, Lateral spread, Debris flow, Earthflow and mudflow, Rock avalanche, Submarine landslide, Slope creep | 9 |
| Ground deformation and subsidence | Solid Earth | Land subsidence, Crustal uplift, Sinkhole, Shrink-swell soil movement, Soft-soil settlement, Ground gas seepage, Mining-induced subsidence | 7 |
| Erosion and sediment movement | Solid Earth | Soil erosion, River bank erosion, Coastal erosion, Dune encroachment, Reservoir and channel siltation, River avulsion, Delta sediment starvation | 7 |
| Seabed and deep-sea hazards | Solid Earth | Turbidity current, Submarine volcanic eruption, Seabed gas escape, Pumice raft, Deep-sea mining disturbance | 5 |
| Solar-terrestrial storms | Space and near-Earth | Geomagnetic storm, Solar flare radio blackout, Solar radiation storm, Ionospheric disturbance, Geomagnetically induced current, Satellite space-environment anomaly, Thermospheric drag surge, Radiation-belt electron enhancement, South Atlantic weak-field anomaly | 9 |
| Impacts and orbital hazards | Space and near-Earth | Near-Earth object approach, Meteorite impact, Airburst, Space debris, Orbital collision cascade, Uncontrolled re-entry, Spaceflight accident, Meteoroid stream encounter | 8 |
| Vegetation and peat fire | Land and ecosystems | Extreme fire weather, Wildfire, Wildland-urban interface fire, Peat and underground fire, Fire regime shift | 5 |
| Forest and woodland stress | Land and ecosystems | Deforestation, Forest dieback, Large forest disturbance, Forest pest invasion, Native forest insect outbreak | 5 |
| Land and wetland degradation | Land and ecosystems | Land degradation, Desertification, Soil quality decline, Soil salinisation and sodicity, Wetland loss, Mangrove loss, Peatland drainage and degradation, Soil sealing, Soil acidification | 9 |
| Biodiversity and species stress | Land and ecosystems | Biodiversity loss, Coral bleaching, Pollinator decline, Fishery collapse, Mass wildlife mortality, Human-wildlife conflict, Wildlife disease panzootic, Insect decline, Phenological mismatch, Climate-driven species range shift … | 12 |
| Climate-state shifts | Land and ecosystems | Abrupt climate-system shift, Volcanic cooling | 2 |
| Ecosystem regime shifts | Land and ecosystems | Kelp forest collapse, Seagrass meadow loss, Lake clear-to-turbid shift, Woody plant encroachment, Coastal habitat squeeze, Food-web collapse | 6 |
| Planetary boundary transgressions | Planetary boundaries and Earth-system tipping | Climate-forcing boundary transgression, Global temperature overshoot, Global warming acceleration, Atmospheric methane surge, Extinction-rate boundary transgression, Biosphere functional integrity loss, Land-system change boundary transgression, Blue-water flow disturbance, Green-water disturbance, Nitrogen flow boundary transgression … | 14 |
| Ice tipping elements | Planetary boundaries and Earth-system tipping | Greenland ice sheet tipping, West Antarctic ice sheet collapse, East Antarctic subglacial basin retreat, Arctic winter sea-ice collapse, Antarctic sea-ice regime shift, Regional glacier extinction | 6 |
| Ocean circulation and marine tipping | Planetary boundaries and Earth-system tipping | Atlantic overturning weakening, Atlantic overturning collapse, Subpolar gyre convection collapse, Antarctic overturning slowdown, Arctic Ocean atlantification, Warm-water coral reef die-off, Marine methane hydrate destabilisation | 7 |
| Biome tipping elements | Planetary boundaries and Earth-system tipping | Amazon rainforest dieback, Boreal forest southern dieback, Boreal forest northern advance, Tropical forest carbon-sink reversal, Sahel vegetation regime shift | 5 |
| Carbon-cycle feedbacks | Planetary boundaries and Earth-system tipping | Permafrost carbon release, Abrupt permafrost thaw emission, Subsea permafrost greenhouse gas release, Wetland methane feedback, Land carbon sink weakening, Ocean carbon sink weakening, Soil carbon respiration feedback | 7 |
| Atmospheric circulation and monsoon tipping | Planetary boundaries and Earth-system tipping | South Asian monsoon regime shift, West African monsoon regime shift, South American monsoon weakening, East Asian monsoon regime shift, Tropical belt widening, Tropical Pacific regime change, Jet-stream regime change, Marine stratocumulus deck breakup, Tipping cascade | 9 |
| Deep-time and cosmic catastrophes | Planetary boundaries and Earth-system tipping | Supereruption, Large-magnitude explosive eruption, Flood-basalt eruption episode, Impact winter, Comet shower, Solar superflare, Gamma-ray burst, Nearby supernova, Geomagnetic reversal or excursion, Ocean anoxic event | 10 |
| Air pollution episodes | Pollution and hazardous substances | Outdoor air pollution episode, Point-source air emission, Household air pollution, Black carbon, Acid deposition, Ground-level ozone episode, Open waste burning, Agricultural residue burning, Agricultural ammonia emission | 9 |
| Contaminated water, soil and food | Pollution and hazardous substances | Diffuse runoff pollution, Soil contamination, Chemical water contamination, Oil spill, Microplastic contamination, Food and feed contamination, Mycotoxin contamination, Seafood biotoxin contamination, Pesticide exposure, Nitrate contamination of drinking water | 10 |
| Persistent and bioaccumulative substances | Pollution and hazardous substances | Persistent organic pollutants, PFAS contamination, Mercury exposure, Lead exposure, Cadmium exposure, Arsenic in drinking water, Trace-element imbalance, Asbestos exposure, Benzene and hydrocarbon exposure | 9 |
| Hazardous releases and chemical agents | Pollution and hazardous substances | Chemical spill or leak, Toxic gas release, Asphyxiant gas release, Carbon monoxide poisoning, Corrosive substance release, Deliberate chemical-agent release | 6 |
| Ionising radiation and nuclear material | Pollution and hazardous substances | Nuclear plant accident, Radioactive material release, Nuclear detonation, Radioactive waste containment failure | 4 |
| Waste and residue failures | Pollution and hazardous substances | Solid waste mismanagement, Landfill failure, Hazardous and clinical waste release, Electronic waste exposure, Plastic waste accumulation, Marine debris, Untreated wastewater discharge, Waste impoundment failure, Disaster and conflict debris | 9 |
| Novel entities and emerging contaminants | Pollution and hazardous substances | Nanoplastic accumulation, Tyre and road wear particles, Endocrine-disrupting chemical exposure, Pharmaceutical pollution, Environmental spread of antimicrobial resistance, Unassessed chemical mixture exposure, Engineered nanomaterial release | 7 |
| Indoor environment hazards | Pollution and hazardous substances | Poor indoor air quality, Damp and mould exposure, Indoor chemical off-gassing, Indoor overheating, Second-hand smoke exposure | 5 |
| Noise, light and thermal pollution | Pollution and hazardous substances | Environmental noise pollution, Light pollution, Underwater noise pollution, Thermal water pollution | 4 |
| Airborne and respiratory infection | Health and biosecurity | Respiratory pandemic, Seasonal influenza epidemic, Zoonotic influenza spillover, Coronavirus outbreak, Tuberculosis surge, Bacterial meningitis outbreak | 6 |
| Vaccine-preventable outbreaks | Health and biosecurity | Measles outbreak, Polio outbreak, Diphtheria and whooping cough outbreak, Other vaccine-preventable outbreak | 4 |
| Faecal-oral and foodborne infection | Health and biosecurity | Cholera outbreak, Typhoid and paratyphoid fever, Shigellosis and dysentery outbreak, Viral diarrhoea outbreak, Faecal-oral hepatitis outbreak, Foodborne illness outbreak, Waterborne disease outbreak | 7 |
| Vector-borne infection | Health and biosecurity | Dengue epidemic, Chikungunya and Zika outbreak, Yellow fever outbreak, West Nile and Culex-borne virus outbreak, Malaria resurgence, Plague outbreak, Trypanosomiasis outbreak, Tick-borne disease surge, Neglected tropical disease outbreak, Emerging arbovirus outbreak | 10 |
| Haemorrhagic fever | Health and biosecurity | Ebola and Marburg outbreak, Lassa fever outbreak, Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever outbreak | 3 |
| Blood-borne and sexually transmitted infection | Health and biosecurity | HIV epidemic, Chronic viral hepatitis B and C burden, Sexually transmitted infection resurgence | 3 |
| Animal-to-human spillover | Health and biosecurity | Zoonotic spillover event, Anthrax outbreak, Brucellosis outbreak, Rabies outbreak, Leptospirosis outbreak, Mpox outbreak, Rift Valley fever outbreak, Nipah and henipavirus outbreak | 8 |
| Rare and persistent human infections | Health and biosecurity | Prion disease cluster, Smallpox reintroduction | 2 |
| Livestock and aquaculture epizootics | Health and biosecurity | Swine fever epizootic, Foot-and-mouth epizootic, Ruminant respiratory epizootic, Vector-borne livestock disease, Poultry epizootic, Screwworm infestation, Aquaculture disease outbreak, Livestock disease outbreak | 8 |
| Plant disease and pests | Health and biosecurity | Bacterial and fungal crop disease, Plant virus epidemic, Crop insect pest outbreak, Locust swarm, Invasive species spread | 5 |
| Systemic biological risks | Health and biosecurity | Antimicrobial resistance, Deliberate or accidental biological-agent release | 2 |
| Environmental and product harm to people | Health and biosecurity | Snakebite envenoming, Substandard and falsified medicines, Adulterated alcohol poisoning, Overdose epidemic | 4 |
| Climate-sensitive illness | Health and biosecurity | Heat-related illness surge, Cold-related illness surge, Disease vector range expansion, Aeroallergen season intensification, Warm-water bacterial infection | 5 |
| Drug and insecticide resistance by pathogen class | Health and biosecurity | Multidrug-resistant bacterial infection spread, Antiviral drug resistance, Antimalarial and antiparasitic drug resistance, Antifungal drug resistance, Insecticide resistance in disease vectors, Antimicrobial development and supply failure | 6 |
| Emerging and unknown infection threats | Health and biosecurity | Unknown future pathogen emergence, Emerging fungal pathogen, Endemic fungal disease range expansion, Healthcare-associated infection outbreak, Undiagnosed illness cluster | 5 |
| Maternal, newborn and child health emergencies | Health and biosecurity | Maternal mortality rise, Newborn mortality surge, Preterm and low birthweight birth rise, Childhood immunisation coverage collapse, Infant feeding disruption, Reproductive health service disruption | 6 |
| Mental health crises | Health and biosecurity | Population mental distress surge, Post-disaster traumatic stress, Suicide rate rise, Youth mental health crisis, Climate-related psychological distress, Social isolation and loneliness epidemic, Mass psychogenic illness outbreak, Gambling harm surge | 8 |
| Noncommunicable disease surges | Health and biosecurity | Cardiovascular disease surge, Diabetes epidemic, Obesity epidemic, Cancer burden rise, Chronic respiratory disease burden, Chronic kidney disease surge, Dementia burden growth, Post-infection chronic illness, Tobacco and nicotine use epidemic, Harmful alcohol use burden … | 11 |
| Malnutrition and micronutrient deficiency | Health and biosecurity | Acute malnutrition surge, Chronic undernutrition and stunting, Micronutrient deficiency, Nutritional deficiency disease outbreak, Unhealthy diet transition, Crop nutrient decline | 6 |
| Occupational disease and injury | Health and biosecurity | Occupational lung disease, Occupational heat strain, Occupational cancer, Occupational chemical poisoning, Workplace injury burden, Work-related psychosocial harm | 6 |
| Health system capacity failure | Health and biosecurity | Health workforce shortage, Health worker industrial action, Health financing collapse, Catastrophic out-of-pocket health spending, Vaccine confidence collapse, Essential health service disruption, Disease surveillance failure, Health facility loss of function, Global health cooperation breakdown | 9 |
| Structural and civil failure | Built systems | Building collapse, Facade and cladding failure, Non-building structure failure, Bridge failure, Tunnel failure, Dam failure, Levee breach, Pipeline rupture | 8 |
| Utility and communication network outage | Built systems | Widespread power outage, Water supply failure, Sewer and drain failure, Gas supply network failure, Telecommunications outage, Emergency communications failure | 6 |
| Transport accidents | Built systems | Air transport accident, Maritime accident, Inland waterway accident, Rail accident, Road crash | 5 |
| Industrial and process accidents | Built systems | Industrial explosion, Reactive chemical store explosion, Industrial fire, Building and urban fire, Explosives accident, Mine accident, Oil and gas extraction accident, Battery thermal runaway fire, Hydrogen release and explosion, Pressurised liquefied gas explosion … | 15 |
| Energy system instability and shortfall | Built systems | Low-inertia grid instability, System frequency collapse, Voltage collapse, Mass inverter disconnection, Grid power oscillation, Generation adequacy shortfall, Low wind and solar energy drought, Drought-driven hydropower shortfall, Cooling-water curtailment of power plants, Nuclear station loss of power and cooling … | 22 |
| Water and wastewater system failure | Built systems | Wastewater treatment plant failure, Distribution network contamination intrusion, Water treatment dosing error, Prolonged drinking-water advisory, Desalination plant outage, Raw-water intake loss, Chronic distribution leakage, Intermittent piped supply, Firefighting water shortfall | 9 |
| Telecom and data-centre failure | Built systems | Data-centre outage, Data-centre fire, Mobile or fixed core network failure, Terrestrial fibre backbone cut, Internet exchange or landing hub failure, Time and synchronisation failure, Telecom backup power exhaustion, Broadcast transmission loss | 8 |
| Space-based service loss | Built systems | Navigation satellite system fault, Satellite communications outage, Weather and Earth-observation satellite gap, Satellite ground segment failure | 4 |
| Seabed infrastructure damage | Built systems | Subsea pipeline damage, Subsea power cable damage, Covert seabed infrastructure sabotage | 3 |
| Transport network disruption | Built systems | Air traffic management failure, Large-scale airspace closure, Rail network outage, Heat-induced track buckling, Strategic road network closure, Low-water navigation restriction, Navigation lock or canal structure failure, Dangerous goods transport accident, Ship cargo fire, Container loss at sea … | 12 |
| Food system infrastructure failure | Built systems | Food storage loss, Irrigation system failure, Food processing bottleneck, Strategic food reserve depletion, Loss of energy for food production | 5 |
| Urban and building-stock stress | Built systems | Building overheating, Seismically and structurally vulnerable stock, Defective building material in use, Construction and temporary works collapse, Tunnelling and excavation ground damage, High-rise evacuation failure | 6 |
| Ageing and degraded infrastructure | Built systems | Infrastructure deterioration, Deferred maintenance backlog, Reinforced concrete deterioration, Metal fatigue cracking, Ageing dam and reservoir stock, Legacy technology obsolescence, Infrastructure skills shortage | 7 |
| Malicious compromise | Information and cyber-physical systems | Malware outbreak, Ransomware attack, Data breach, Persistent intrusion, Denial-of-service attack, Software or hardware supply-chain compromise, Social-engineering campaign, Online harassment campaign, Re-identification of protected data | 9 |
| Information-integrity attacks | Information and cyber-physical systems | Disinformation campaign, Data and model integrity attack, Election infrastructure attack, Public record tampering, Misinformation surge and infodemic, Hazardous information disclosure | 6 |
| Cyber-physical disruption | Information and cyber-physical systems | Industrial control system compromise, Power-grid cyberattack, Transport control-system attack, Health-system cyberattack, Medical device compromise, Water utility cyberattack, Building systems compromise, Mass connected-device manipulation, Industrial safety system attack, Satellite or ground control compromise … | 11 |
| Signal and platform disruption | Information and cyber-physical systems | Satellite-navigation disruption, Major cloud or platform outage, Internet routing or naming failure, Subsea cable damage, Payment system outage, Radio-spectrum interference, Digital public infrastructure failure | 7 |
| Identity, trust and cryptographic failure | Information and cyber-physical systems | Identity provider compromise, Signing key or certificate compromise, Certificate or credential expiry outage, Cryptographic algorithm or implementation break, Mass account takeover, National digital identity system failure | 6 |
| Systemic cyber events | Information and cyber-physical systems | Defective update mass outage, Mass vulnerability exploitation, Connected-device botnet, Managed service provider compromise, Firmware or hardware backdoor, Insider threat, Cyber theft from financial infrastructure, Irrecoverable data loss, Date and time rollover software fault | 9 |
| AI system failure and misalignment | Frontier and exponential technology | AI malfunction in a critical service, Out-of-distribution model failure, Correlated failure of shared AI models, Reliance on fabricated AI output, Specification gaming and reward hacking, Deceptive or strategically misaligned AI, Loss of human control over advanced AI, AI self-replication and exfiltration, Runaway recursive AI capability gain, Unanticipated dangerous capability emergence … | 11 |
| AI security and model supply chain | Frontier and exponential technology | Theft of frontier model weights, Backdoored AI model, AI model supply-chain compromise, Prompt injection against AI agents, AI-enabled cyber offence, Attack on AI compute infrastructure, Adversarial manipulation of machine learning | 7 |
| AI misuse and capability uplift | Frontier and exponential technology | AI uplift for biological weapons, AI uplift for chemical weapons, Synthetic media at scale, Non-consensual synthetic intimate imagery, AI-driven mass persuasion, AI-enabled mass surveillance and repression, AI-enabled seizure or entrenchment of power, Malicious use of AI | 8 |
| Agentic AI acting at scale | Frontier and exponential technology | Runaway autonomous agent action, Multi-agent interaction cascade, Algorithmic market flash crash, Human deskilling and over-reliance on AI, Gradual human disempowerment by AI, Autonomous agent overreach | 6 |
| Algorithmic decision and structural harm | Frontier and exponential technology | Harmful automated decision-making, Clinical AI error, Rapid AI-driven labour displacement, Concentration of frontier AI capability, Competitive AI race and safety erosion, Degradation of the shared knowledge base, Recommender-system amplification harm, Harm from AI companions and chatbots, AI-driven inference of private traits, AI compute energy and water demand surge … | 12 |
| Robotics, autonomy and autonomous weapons | Frontier and exponential technology | Lethal autonomous weapon use, Drone swarm attack, Weaponised small drone attack, Drone intrusion into protected airspace, AI-accelerated military escalation, AI in nuclear command, control and warning, Industrial and service robot injury, Autonomous vehicle system failure, Hijacking of connected robot fleets, Autonomous machine malfunction | 10 |
| Biotechnology and synthetic biology | Frontier and exponential technology | Engineered pandemic pathogen, Dual-use research of concern, Benchtop DNA synthesis misuse, Biological design tool misuse, Automated biofoundry accident, Gene drive escape, Engineered organism escape into the environment, Mirror-image organism creation or release, Self-spreading vaccine or transmissible agent release, Unregulated do-it-yourself biohacking | 10 |
| Nanotechnology and advanced materials | Frontier and exponential technology | Engineered nanomaterial exposure, High-aspect-ratio nanofibre inhalation, Nanomaterial accumulation in the environment, Uncontrolled self-replicating nanomachines, Molecular manufacturing arms race | 5 |
| Neurotechnology, human enhancement and extended reality | Frontier and exponential technology | Brain-computer interface failure, Neural device compromise, Neural data exploitation, Cognitive enhancement harm and coercion, Heritable human genome editing harm, Extended-reality physical and psychological harm, Manipulation of augmented perception | 7 |
| Quantum technology and cryptographic transition | Frontier and exponential technology | Cryptographically relevant quantum computer, Harvest-now, decrypt-later collection, Post-quantum migration failure, Quantum sensing erosion of strategic concealment | 4 |
| Climate intervention technologies | Frontier and exponential technology | Solar geoengineering termination shock, Stratospheric aerosol injection side effects, Marine cloud brightening side effects, Unilateral or rogue geoengineering deployment, Ocean fertilisation side effects, Ocean alkalinity enhancement side effects, Large-scale carbon removal land and water competition, Geological carbon storage leakage, Weather modification side effects and disputes, Ice-sheet and sea-ice intervention side effects … | 11 |
| Space technology and orbital infrastructure | Frontier and exponential technology | Destructive anti-satellite strike, Non-kinetic counterspace attack, Mega-constellation orbital congestion, Constellation-wide service failure, Upper-atmosphere pollution from launches and re-entries, Satellite interference with sky observation, Back-contamination from extraterrestrial samples | 7 |
| Digital infrastructure concentration and monoculture | Frontier and exponential technology | Critical open-source dependency failure, Advanced semiconductor fabrication concentration, Digital identity and trust service failure | 3 |
| Advanced and distributed manufacturing | Frontier and exponential technology | 3D-printed and untraceable firearms, Distributed production of weapon components, Additively manufactured critical part failure | 3 |
| Energy-transition technology failures | Frontier and exponential technology | Lithium battery fire in vehicles and transport, Mass manipulation of connected energy devices, Advanced reactor material security risk, Critical mineral supply concentration | 4 |
| Distributed ledgers and digital assets | Frontier and exponential technology | Smart-contract and oracle exploit | 1 |
| Organised and collective violence | Society, conflict and economy | Interstate war, Internal armed conflict, Civil unrest, Terrorist attack, Communal and targeted violence | 5 |
| Conflict-induced harm | Society, conflict and economy | Explosive remnants and landmines, Conflict-related environmental damage, Attacks on critical infrastructure, Siege and humanitarian access denial | 4 |
| Humanitarian crises | Society, conflict and economy | Mass displacement, Acute food crisis, Famine, Water and resource conflict, Chronic malnutrition, Education disruption | 6 |
| Crowd and collective behaviour | Society, conflict and economy | Crowd crush, Panic buying and hoarding, Self-harm and suicide cluster | 3 |
| Economic shocks and governance failure | Society, conflict and economy | Financial market and banking shock, Sovereign debt crisis, Currency crisis, Commodity price shock, Governance breakdown, Hyperinflation, Housing affordability and insecurity crisis, Energy poverty | 8 |
| Geopolitical confrontation and strategic weapons | Society, conflict and economy | Great-power war, Nuclear war, Nuclear winter, Nuclear escalation crisis, Accidental or unauthorised nuclear launch, Nuclear weapons proliferation, High-altitude electromagnetic pulse, Military threat to a nuclear facility, Arms-race instability, Collapse of arms control … | 15 |
| Governance and institutional failure | Society, conflict and economy | Coup d'etat, Democratic backsliding, Authoritarian lock-in, Institutional capture, Grand corruption shock, Rule-of-law breakdown, Mass surveillance, Repression of civic space, State-ordered internet shutdown, Disputed election and contested transfer of power … | 18 |
| Financial-system fragility | Society, conflict and economy | Asset-bubble collapse, Property-market crash, Credit crunch, Non-bank financial run, Central counterparty or settlement failure, Government bond market dysfunction, Corporate default wave, Digital-asset collapse, Stablecoin run, Insurance market withdrawal … | 12 |
| Macroeconomic and fiscal shocks | Society, conflict and economy | Inflation shock, Stagflation, Deflationary spiral, Interest-rate shock, Capital-flow sudden stop, Severe national recession, Global recession, Local-government fiscal crisis, Remittance collapse, Aid and humanitarian funding shock … | 12 |
| Labour and technology transition | Society, conflict and economy | Automation-driven job displacement, Skills mismatch, Mass unemployment surge, Critical labour shortage, Regional industrial decline, Large-scale labour strike, Informal and precarious work shock | 7 |
| Population structure and movement | Society, conflict and economy | Rapid population ageing, Ultra-low fertility, Depopulation, Youth bulge with unemployment, Rapid unplanned urbanisation, Protracted displacement, Dangerous irregular migration, Climate-driven migration and relocation, Mass expulsion and forced return, Brain drain … | 12 |
| Social cohesion and atrocity risk | Society, conflict and economy | Societal polarisation, Collapse of institutional trust, Inequality shock, Hate-crime wave, Incitement and dehumanising propaganda, Systematic persecution of a group, Genocide, Violent radicalisation, Surge in gender-based violence | 9 |
| Organised crime and illicit economies | Society, conflict and economy | Transnational organised crime, Criminal governance of territory, Human trafficking, Migrant smuggling, Drug trafficking, Illicit arms trafficking, Illicit financial flows, Maritime piracy and armed robbery at sea, Kidnapping for ransom, Environmental crime … | 12 |
| Cultural heritage loss | Society, conflict and economy | Deliberate destruction of cultural heritage, Looting and trafficking of cultural property, Climate and natural-hazard damage to heritage, Language extinction, Loss of traditional and Indigenous knowledge, Loss of archives and records, Overtourism degradation | 7 |
| Supply-chain and flow disruption | Systemic and compound events | Supply-chain disruption, Chokepoint blockage, Port or hub closure, Fuel and energy supply shock, Food supply-chain breakdown, Trade restriction or embargo, Single-source supplier failure, Cold-chain failure, Medical supply shortage, Semiconductor supply disruption … | 17 |
| Cascading failure | Systemic and compound events | Interdependent infrastructure cascade, Blackout-driven service cascade, Water-energy-food cascade, Financial contagion, Health-system overload, Emergency-response overload, Digital dependency cascade, Lifeline restoration deadlock, Cross-border grid cascade, Financial-physical risk feedback | 10 |
| Compound and multi-hazard events | Systemic and compound events | Compound flooding, Concurrent heat and drought, Simultaneous multi-region crop failure, Cold-wave energy crunch, Heat-driven grid stress, Natech event, Successive hazards, Disaster during an epidemic, Conflict and climate-stress compound | 9 |
| Structural fragility of interconnected systems | Systemic and compound events | Critical single point of failure, Critical service provider concentration, Common-mode failure, Technology monoculture, Lean inventory fragility, Geographic clustering of critical production, Unmapped critical dependency, Tightly coupled automated systems, Globally synchronised shocks, Polycrisis … | 11 |
03Domains
14 hazard domains
Each domain page lists every family and hazard with its definition, attributes, risk classes and expert relations.
54 hazards · 8 families
Atmosphere and weather
Hazards that live in the air column: storms, winds, precipitation extremes, thermal extremes, airborne particles and large-scale circulation anomalies.
Open the domain41 hazards · 5 familiesWater systems
Hazards of fresh and salt water: floods, water deficit, sea-level and wave hazards, ocean-state extremes and water-quality degradation.
Open the domain18 hazards · 3 familiesIce and snow
Hazards of the frozen Earth: snowpack and avalanche, glacier and permafrost change, floating ice.
Open the domain47 hazards · 6 familiesSolid Earth
Hazards of the crust and ground: fault shaking, eruptions, slope failure, ground deformation and surface erosion.
Open the domain17 hazards · 2 familiesSpace and near-Earth
Hazards that arrive from or act in space: solar-terrestrial storms, impacts and orbital debris.
Open the domain39 hazards · 6 familiesLand and ecosystems
Hazards of the living land and sea surface: vegetation fire, forest stress, land degradation, biodiversity loss and climate-state shifts.
Open the domain58 hazards · 7 familiesPlanetary boundaries and Earth-system tipping
Hazards of the Earth system as a whole: transgression of the boundaries that keep the planet in a stable state, tipping of large climate, ice, ocean and biome components, carbon-cycle feedbacks, and rare deep-time and cosmic catastrophes.
Open the domain63 hazards · 9 familiesPollution and hazardous substances
Harmful substances in air, water, soil and food, toxic releases, ionising radiation and waste-containment failures.
Open the domain124 hazards · 21 familiesHealth and biosecurity
Disease and biological harm to people, animals and plants, grouped by transmission route, plus systemic biological risks, chronic and mental-health burdens, drug resistance and the failure of health systems.
Open the domain110 hazards · 13 familiesBuilt systems
Failure and accident hazards of structures, energy, water, digital and space-service networks, mobility, food systems, cities, ageing assets and industrial plants.
Open the domain48 hazards · 6 familiesInformation and cyber-physical systems
Compromise or failure of information systems, including attacks that reach physical processes, identity and trust services, systemic cyber events and platforms everything else depends on.
Open the domain109 hazards · 16 familiesFrontier and exponential technology
Hazards that arise from frontier and exponential technologies: artificial intelligence, biotechnology, advanced materials, quantum, neurotechnology, autonomy, climate intervention, space systems, digital concentration, advanced manufacturing and energy-transition technology.
Open the domain130 hazards · 14 familiesSociety, conflict and economy
Violence, geopolitical and nuclear confrontation, conflict-induced harm, humanitarian crises, governance and cohesion failure, crime, demographic and labour transitions, macro-fiscal and financial-system shocks, and loss of heritage.
Open the domain47 hazards · 4 familiesSystemic and compound events
Events defined by interaction rather than by one process: supply-chain disruption, cascading failure, compound multi-hazard events and the structural fragility (concentration, coupling, polycrisis) that lets them spread.
Open the domain04Crosswalk
UNDRR–ISC Hazard Information Profiles
Each hazard maps to one of the 281 HIPs profiles (UNDRR-ISC HIP 2025) as an exact, chapeau or broader match, or records that none exists. HIPs are cited for interoperability; their text is not reproduced.
| HIPs type | Name |
|---|---|
MH | Hydrological and Meteorological |
ET | Extraterrestrial |
GH | Geological |
EN | Environmental |
CH | Chemical |
BI | Biological |
TL | Technological |
SO | Societal |