Natural Disaster Essay: How to Write, Topics, & Examples

What would you do if someone told you that a tsunami would wipe out your house tomorrow afternoon? You won’t believe them. It always seems that natural disasters happen in someone else’s life. But every year, millions of people worldwide suffer from various natural calamities. This article attempts to systemize the chaos of nature for you to write an impressive natural disaster essay. You will get acquainted with the seven types of disasters, get a long list of topics and examples of natural disaster essay in 200 words and 300 words.

🌪️ Natural Disaster Essay: What Is It About?

A natural disaster is a large-scale meteorological or geological event that can to cause loss of life or massive damage to people’s property. Floods and severe storms are the most reported acts of nature in the US, but other incidents also happen from time to time. That is why you can dedicate your essay on natural disasters to earthquakes, droughts, wildfires, floods, tsunamis, hurricanes, or tornadoes.

💡 114 Natural Disasters Essay Topics

What could you write in a natural disaster essay? You can invent your own topic about various types of natural disasters, their causes, and aftermath, or their impact on human life and the economy. Depending on the discipline, you can also describe historic calamities that changed the direction of human civilization. Alternatively, choose one from our comprehensive list below.

1. Why are the Great Plains of the central US ideal for tornado formation?
2. Global Warming and Climate Change Legislation.
3. Research the atmospheric parameters inside a tornado.
4. Energy, Technology and Climate Change.
5. Why are the boundaries of Tornado Alley in the US so debatable?
6. The global climate change as a manmade disaster.
7. Which actions should you never do when a tornado is nearby?
8. Volunteers’ Role During Disasters.
9. Suggest your opinion on the best action strategy in a hurricane.
10. The Columbia Disaster and safety violations.
11. What were the causes and effects of a flood?
12. Analysis on Climate Change and Global Impact.
13. Describe the most devastating wildfires in the US and find their common features.
14. Earthquake Engineering Considerations and Methods.
15. Brainstorm ideas to prevent wildfires.
16. Global warming and the greenhouse effect.
17. How can building dams cause earthquakes?
18. Climate Change and Its Impact on Freshwater.
19. Analyze the impact of droughts on tourism.
20. Climate Change Effect on Coral Reef Communities.
21. Describe the most extended droughts in human history.
22. Marine and Coastal Climate Change in Australia.
23. Write an essay on natural disasters and earthquakes in particular.
24. Air pollution and mortality rates
25. What are the distinctive features of droughts in third-world countries?

26. Global Warming, Climate Change, and Society’s Impact on the Environment.
27. Study the relationship between global warming and droughts.
28. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder After a Hurricane.
29. Evaluate the damage caused by Hurricane Maria in 2017.
30. Social Media’s Role in Disaster Response.
31. Classify the effects of natural disasters in an essay.
32. Sustainability and Climate Change.
33. Describe the 1815 volcanic eruption of Mt. Tambora, Indonesia.
34. Hurricane Katrina: Overview, Impact, Response.
35. Each new leap of civilization causes new responses of nature.
36. Animal Exploitation. Animal Agriculture and Climate Change.
37. Think of any positive effects a volcanic eruption may have.
38. In Arizona, Collaboration Averts Water Disaster.
39. Children are the poorest victims of any disaster.
40. A Solution to Remedy Climate Change.
41. Which ways of disaster risk reduction do you know?
42. An Emergency Operations Center During Hurricane Harvey.
43. Research the current problems in disaster management.
44. Disaster Recovery Plan for Information Technology Organizations.
45. Analyze ineffective disaster management in an essay about hurricane Katrina.
46. Nurse Competencies and Scope of Practice in Disaster.
47. What should a household have at home in the case of a disaster?
48. Hurricane Katrina: The Powerful Natural Disaster.
49. Describe the humanitarian disaster during the drought in Somalia.
50. Technology in Disaster Preparedness.
51. Can man-made disasters entail natural calamities?
52. Disaster Management in Philadelphia.
53. Review the criteria for disaster classification.
54. Jeddah Floods and Adaptation Strategies in the City of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
55. Search for real examples of hybrid disasters.
56. Natural Disasters Prevention: A Tabletop Exercise.
57. Who is responsible for casualties after a natural disaster?
58. The Sand Storms: Remote Sensing and Meteorological Variables.
59. List the lessons we could learn from our past disaster experience.
60. Fire Development, Growth, and Spreads.
61. The ice storm and silver thaw: A gentle disaster.
62. Fire Crisis Management in the UAE.
63. Rockslides: A pressing issue for rural areas.
64. 1d – 2d Flood Modeling Using PCSWMM.
65. What are the psychological benefits of disaster preparedness?
66. Structural Control and Origin of Volcanism in the Taupo Volcanic Zone.
67. When does a blizzard become a disaster?
68. Extreme Weather Events + Geographies of Globalization.
69. Research the causes of dust storms and name the affected areas.
70. Strategies for Sustainable Integrated Oil Disaster Management in West Africa.
71. Why did the San Francisco earthquake (1906) cause devastating fires?
72. Causes of Climate Change.
73. What could be done to help people who lost their homes in an earthquake?
74. Book Review: Energy and Global Climate Change.
75. Analyze the role of World Vision in humanitarian aid after disasters.
76. Tangshan earthquake of 1976 showed that high population density is disastrous.
77. The Role of Carbon Dioxide in Climate Change.
78. Rock avalanche: Why water is the most powerful geological agent.
79. Aspects of Climate Change.
80. When do extreme weather conditions turn into a disaster?
81. Climate Change: Reasons, Kyoto Protocol.
82. Write an article on shelter-providing organizations for disaster victims.
83. Establishing an IT Disaster Recovery Plan.
84. Describe earthquake cycles in Haiti.
85. Effects of Climate Change on Agriculture and Food.
86. How can nature damage ecology in natural disasters?
87. Climate Change. Problems. Effects.
88. Disaster management should include psychological help to the survivors.
89. Climate Change Causes: Position and Strategies.
90. Suggest ways to prevent damage caused by debris flow.
91. HAT 4: Disaster in Franklin Country.
92. How did the lack of evacuation after the Bhola cyclone (1970) result in the massive death toll?
93. The Effects of Climate Change.
94. The most significant Yellow River flood: 2 million deaths in 1887.
95. Resilience Building Against Natural Disasters in the Caribbean Islands.
96. Sinkholes: A natural disaster or attraction for cavers and water-divers?
97. Global Climate Change and Health.
98. Describe the dynamics of landslides in California.
99. Which early-warning systems to detect avalanches do you know?
100. Los Angeles Regional Collaborative for Climate Action.
101. Pyroclastic flow: The deadliest volcanic hazard.
102. Communication During Disaster Response.
103. Describe the volcano eruption of Vesuvius that destroyed the Herculaneum and Pompeii.
104. Disaster Planning for Families.
105. Disaster prevention measures: Investments that save millions of lives.
106. Natural Disaster Management and Historical Prospective Study in the UAE.
107. Research the PTSD in survivors of natural disasters.
108. Are the latest disasters the nature’s fightback to humanity?
109. Estimate the human impact on natural disasters.
110. List the countries with the largest number of disasters and find their standard features.
111. Everyday Communication on Climate Change.
112. Insurance coverage against disasters: Our inevitable future.
113. Emergency Planning Before and After Hurricane Katrina.
114. One natural disaster could bring the world to its end.

Haven’t found a suitable topic in the list above? Use our essay topic generator to get more ideas.

📑 Natural Disaster Essay Outline

Outlines differ, depending on the assigned length and essay type. It is a reference sample. Feel free to modify it, extending some points and narrowing the others. Still, the overall structure should remain the same. We have chosen the “Causes of Earthquakes” essay topic for demonstrative purposes.

1. Introduction

   • Hook. There are millions of possible ways to start your essay, from a rhetorical question to any imaginable scenario. The point is to grab the reader’s attention, showing them that your writing is unique and creative. For example:
     We are always concerned with the consequences of a natural disaster. But what brought us into such a calamity in the first place?
   • Concepts. Natural disasters can be studied in the framework of various disciplines. But in all cases, they are linked with geology, biology, chemistry, geography, and some other subjects with broad and complicated terminology. Explain the terms that could be elusive for your readers here. For example:
     For the purposes of this essay, an earthquake is a sudden displacement of the land surface.
   • Background. How did you come to think of this problem? Why is it topical?
     The causes of earthquakes are numerous and often unrelated. To understand them as a system, we need a strict classification.
   • Thesis statement. Clearly state the aim of your essay.
     This essay attempts to group the causes of earthquakes to determine which factors can be tackled by human forces.
2. Main Body
   The main body of a standard 5-paragraph essay should contain three paragraphs. Build them by moving from general to specific. Start each paragraph with the broadest range of information. Conclude them with the most definitive evidence and details that were not evident in the beginning.
   The main body paragraph should consist of these four components:

   • Transition sentence. It comes in the previous sentence (for paragraphs 2 and 3) and ensures smooth reading. E.g.:
     Tectonic movements are the most powerful causes of earthquakes, and we cannot influence them. But still, there is something we could do.
   • Topic sentence. What will you explain in this paragraph?
     Human interference with nature can also cause earthquakes.
   • Evidence. How can you confirm the topic sentence?
     Heavy clubbing of dam water can disturbance the crustal balance. Nuclear bombing causes shockwaves that penetrate the surface, changing the tectonic plates and their natural alignment. Mining can also cause earthquakes by removing extensive volumes of stone from under the ground.
   • Warrant. Why does the reader need this information, and how does it relate to the thesis statement?
     Knowing these facts can help us change the old-fashioned approaches and lessen the ecological damage to our planet.
3. Conclusion

   • Summary. Collect and summarize all your arguments here.
     Tectonic movements, volcano eruptions, and geological faults cause a significant part of earthquakes worldwide. But various man-made causes bring us to the same result.
   • Rephrased thesis.
     We cannot stop the tectonic movements or hinder volcanic eruptions, but we can use natural resources with more care.

🌊 Natural Disaster Essay 200 Words

Below you will find a short natural disaster essay for 200 words. It explores the causes and effects of the tsunami in Japan in 2011.

Tsunami in Japan: Causes and Effects

The proximity of the deadliest disasters is often unpredictable. As a result, the consequences of a tsunami can exceed any possible expectations. This essay looks for the decisive factors that caused the tsunami in Japan in 2011 and its results for the local population and other countries.

The causes were out of human control and could not be predicted. The Pacific plate moved in the horizontal and vertical plane, advancing beneath the Eurasian Plate. It displaced the seawater above and entailed several destructive waves.

The disaster had enormous consequences for the Japanese people and their economy. It killed almost 16,000 people, although the country had a sophisticated alarming system. Besides, the earthquake caused fires and explosions at oil factories. The cooling system of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant went out of service. Two people were lost, and many were injured. Nissan, like many other large corporations, had to suspend the operation of its four factories. The economic losses due to the catastrophe amounted to 300 billion dollars.

But the disaster moved to other places. On 24 March 2011, the earthquake in the east of Myanmar claimed the lives of 60 people and destroyed 300 buildings.

As we can see, everything is linked on our planet. Movements of the earth’ crust in any part of the world bring about earthquakes and tsunami in other countries. The series of waves in Japan was caused by the underwater earthquake and had horrible consequences.

🏜️ Natural Disaster Essay 300 Words

If your assignment is longer, you will have to provide your opinion in the essay. Or, you can make your argumentation more detailed. Below you can check our 300-word sample of a disaster essay.

The Economic Effects of the Dust Bowl Drought

When someone says “a natural disaster,” we usually imagine an earthquake or a tsunami. Buildings are destroyed, and property is lost. But imagine a scenario of a devastating drought, which happened in the US in the 1930s. Its effect is less visible because it lies in the domain of the national economy. This essay reveals the economic consequences of the Dust Bowl drought.

During the third decade of the XX century, strong winds raised choking dust in the southern states, from Texas to Nebraska. People and animals died as the crops failed in the area for several years in a row. The Dust Bowl lasted for almost a decade and was also called “the Dirty Thirties.”

This drought intensified the impact of the Great Depression. Local farmers had to migrate to urban areas in search of better conditions and other sources of living. About 2.5 million people moved West from the worst-hit states, namely New Mexico, Texas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Kansas. But they found only discrimination, meager salaries, and inhuman working conditions. Many had to live in tents near irrigation ditches. They were called “Okies,” a disdainful name for migrants of any state.

Regular rains returned to the southern states by the end of 1939, closing the drought. However, the economic aftermath persisted. The counties that suffered the most failed to recover the agricultural value of their land till the 1950s. Thus, the local population kept decreasing for twenty years.

Although a drought does not ruin property, it can tangibly lower human life levels. The Dust Bowl threw people into a lose-lose situation. Their farms were unfit for gaining any profit, and the new places of living gave them no better opportunities. It took two decades to restore public wellbeing in the Southern States.

Researching the worst acts of nature can teach you to value what you have. We hope that this article has made your creative writing more manageable and pleasurable. You can write an essay of any length by simply following our outline. All you will need to do after that is make a cover page for it.

Please share your natural disaster essay ideas in the comments below.

❓ Natural Disaster Essay FAQ

🔗 References

1. Natural Disasters and Severe Weather | CDC
2. Types of Disasters | SAMHSA
3. Natural Disaster – an overview | ScienceDirect Topics
4. Natural Disasters – National Geographic
5. What Is Disaster Management: Prevention and Mitigation