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Reflecting on Mauna Loa's Reawakening

A Look Back at the 2022 Eruption

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September is National Preparedness Month

Are you ready?

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Research Team Forecasted Beach Impacts from Hurricane Idalia

USGS and NOAA partner to continually improve coastal change forecasts

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Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Deploys New Equipment on Kīlauea Summit

New webcam and more

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Alarming Future for California's Coastline

Computer modeling and new research predict significant erosion by 2100

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New USGS-FEMA study highlights economic earthquake risk in the United States

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The Haywired Scenario Exercise Toolkit is here!

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Natural Hazards Mission Area

Every year in the United States, natural hazards threaten lives and livelihoods and result in billions of dollars in damage. We work with many partners to monitor, assess, and conduct targeted research on a wide range of natural hazards so that policymakers and the public have the understanding they need to enhance preparedness, response, and resilience.

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Reducing Risk

Venn Diagram: Hazards and Society

USGS scientists develop new products to make science available to the public, emergency managers, and decision-makers. These efforts increase public safety and reduce risk and economic losses caused by natural hazards.

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Subduction Zone Science

Simple illustration of the various parts of a subduction zone where one oceanic plate is thrust beneath another.

The most powerful earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, and volcanic eruptions occur in subduction zones, where two plates collide and one is thrust beneath another.

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USGS partners with Havasupai Tribe to identify potential contaminant exposure pathways from Grand Canyon uranium mining

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Web Portal Offers Access to National Marine Seismic Surveys

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Assessing landslide risks in Prince William Sound 

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Publications

Forecasting storm-induced coastal flooding for 21st century sea-level rise scenarios in the Hawaiian, Mariana, and American Samoan Islands

Oceanographic, coastal engineering, ecologic, and geospatial data and tools were combined to evaluate the increased risks of storm-induced coastal flooding in the populated Hawaiian, Mariana, and American Samoan Islands as a result of climate change and sea-level rise. We followed a hybrid (dynamical and statistical) downscaling approach to map flooding due to waves and storm surge at 10-square me
Authors
Curt D. Storlazzi, Borja G. Reguero, Camila Gaido L., Kristen C. Alkins, Chris Lowry, Kees M. Nederhoff, Li H. Erikson, Andrea C. O'Neill, Michael W. Beck
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

Expanded conceptual risk framework for uranium mining in Grand Canyon watershed—Inclusion of the Havasupai Tribe perspective

In 2012, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior placed a 20-year limit on mineral extraction on Federal lands in the Grand Canyon watershed to permit further study of the environmental effects of uranium mining. Tribal concerns were also noted by the U.S. Department of the Interior and included in the rationale for the decision stating Tribal resource impacts could not be mitigated a
Authors
Carletta Tilousi, Jo Ellen Hinck
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Natural Hazards Mission Area

Satellite Interferometry Landslide Detection and Preliminary Tsunamigenic Plausibility Assessment in Prince William Sound, Southcentral Alaska

Regional mapping of actively deforming landslides, including measurements of landslide velocity, is integral for hazard assessments in paraglacial environments. These inventories are also critical for describing the potential impacts that the warming effects of climate change have on slope instability in mountainous and cryospheric terrain. The objective of this study is to identify slow-moving la

Authors
Lauren N. Schaefer, Jinwook Kim, Dennis M. Staley, Zhong Lu, Katherine R. Barnhart
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Landslide Hazards Program, Volcano Hazards Program, Geologic Hazards Science Center, Volcano Science Center
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Science

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A building lifted from its foundation by floodwater from Typhoon Merbok is trapped under a bridge in Nome, Alaska

Typhoon Merbok Disaster Emergency Recovery Efforts

Extreme storm events, such as Extratropical-Typhoon Merbok that hit the coast of Western Alaska in September 2022, are stark reminders of the devastating impacts coastal storms can have on Alaska Native community’s livelihoods and infrastructure.
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
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Typhoon Merbok Disaster Emergency Recovery Efforts

Extreme storm events, such as Extratropical-Typhoon Merbok that hit the coast of Western Alaska in September 2022, are stark reminders of the devastating impacts coastal storms can have on Alaska Native community’s livelihoods and infrastructure.
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Image: Northridge, CA Earthquake Damage

M6.7 January 17, 1994 Northridge, California Earthquake

The magnitude 6.7 Northridge, California earthquake took a heavy toll, killing 33 people, leaving over 7,000 injured, and 20,000 area residents homeless. Estimates of property damage are approximately 40 billion dollars. Damage to freeway bridges and overpasses disrupted key transportation arteries for months after the earthquake.
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Earthquake Hazards Program, Earthquake Science Center
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M6.7 January 17, 1994 Northridge, California Earthquake

The magnitude 6.7 Northridge, California earthquake took a heavy toll, killing 33 people, leaving over 7,000 injured, and 20,000 area residents homeless. Estimates of property damage are approximately 40 billion dollars. Damage to freeway bridges and overpasses disrupted key transportation arteries for months after the earthquake.
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50-state NSHMP Update thumbnail of 2023

2023 50-State Long-term National Seismic Hazard Model

The 2023 50-State Update of the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) defines the potential for earthquake ground shaking for various probability levels across the conterminous United States, Alaska, and Hawaii and is applied in seismic provisions of building codes, insurance rate structures, risk assessments, and other public policy. The updated model represents an assessment of the best...
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Earthquake Hazards Program, Geologic Hazards Science Center, Reducing Risk, Science for a Changing World, Subduction Zone Science
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2023 50-State Long-term National Seismic Hazard Model

The 2023 50-State Update of the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) defines the potential for earthquake ground shaking for various probability levels across the conterminous United States, Alaska, and Hawaii and is applied in seismic provisions of building codes, insurance rate structures, risk assessments, and other public policy. The updated model represents an assessment of the best...
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