A simple guide to how each natural disaster forms. Read the quick explanation, scan the key steps, and watch a short educational video for each one.
Earth's crust is broken into giant tectonic plates that slowly grind past each other. Friction locks them in place until the built-up strain suddenly releases, snapping the rock and sending out seismic waves that shake the ground.
Deep underground, intense heat melts rock into magma. Being lighter than the solid rock around it, the magma rises and collects in a chamber. When the pressure of trapped gas grows too high, it bursts out as an eruption of lava, ash, and gas.
A wildfire needs three things — the "fire triangle": fuel (dry plants), oxygen, and heat (lightning, a spark, or hot weather). Once it ignites, wind and dry conditions push the flames from plant to plant, and the fire spreads.
Over ocean water warmer than 26°C, warm moist air rises and condenses into clouds, releasing heat that powers a growing low-pressure system. Earth's rotation curves the inrushing winds into a giant spinning storm with a calm eye.
When an undersea earthquake suddenly shifts the seafloor, it pushes the entire column of water above it. That energy spreads out as fast, low waves in deep water — then, near the shore, the waves slow and pile up into a towering wall of water.
A drought is a long stretch with far less rain than normal. Shifting wind and pressure patterns can park dry air over a region for months. With little rain, soil dries out, rivers shrink, and water supplies run low.