Illustrative: an outbreak travelling along air routes, arrival times by shortest path, then local epidemics

Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium · Hazards, Disasters and Resilience

Biological and epidemic hazards in disaster risk management

The Sendai Framework names biological hazards beside natural and technological ones, and the Bangkok Principles of 2016 turned that into practice.

Map biological and epidemic hazards in disaster risk management on a real place

01Model

The model, step by step

The model

From shelter crowding to an outbreak size: how space per person sets the reproduction number, the attack rate and the care a shelter needs

DataModelGateDecision

7 steps
Severe cases needing care
139
Effective reproduction number at this crowding
2.80
Attack rate (approximate final size)
92%
People infected over the outbreak
2,775
/

The model From shelter crowding to an outbreak size: how space per person sets the reproduction number, the attack rate and the care a shelter needs

02Scope

What the discipline covers

The subtopics its courses and labs teach.

Biological and epidemic hazards in disaster risk management: 0 primary courses open, 0 in preparation and 0 also taught here, across 8 subtopics. Courses: none yet.
Biological and epidemic hazards in disaster risk management at a glance
  • Open, 0
  • In preparation, 0
  • Subtopics, 8
Course codes from the curriculum; study levels L1 to L4.
Courses
In development
Levels
In development
Labs
In development
  • Biological hazards in the Sendai Framework and the Bangkok Principles
  • Epidemics and pandemics as disaster risks
  • Zoonoses and spillover at the human, animal and environment interface
  • Compound disasters: epidemics during floods, cyclones and displacement
  • Health emergency and disaster risk management (Health EDRM)
  • Mass gatherings and evacuation in an epidemic
  • Continuity of health services in disasters
  • Biological hazard information in the Hazard Information Profiles
03The discipline

The field and its scope

For disaster managers, public health emergency officers and planners who must assess epidemics alongside natural hazards and keep health services running when the two coincide.

04Measures

Quantities and units

05Methods

Methods and their limits

Each method is listed with what it assumes and where it fails.

06Debates

What the field debates

07Bodies and data

Bodies that set practice, and the data they publish

Bodies and standards are named so learners can find and apply their published work; the Academy teaches their use and links to the publisher, and no affiliation is implied.

08Simulator

Run the discipline's simulator

Biological and epidemic hazards in disaster risk management's own model runs in the scene at the top of this page: set its parameters there and play the steps. The separate chart simulator is left off this page so that it stays within its size budget.

09Maps

Build a twin of any place

Search any place or open the world; the layers and generators follow biological and epidemic hazards in disaster risk management on the planet map, the globe and in 3D.

The Kahramanmaras earthquake sequence of 2023: a flat plan of the faculty twin. Terrain 59 to 3,044 m; 2 reference earthquakes, M7.5 to M7.8; 3,643,786 people in the box, 2020; Earthquakes M4.5 and above, past week: read live when the 3D twin opens; USGS ShakeMap intensity contours: read live when the 3D twin opens. Contours every 500 metres from the elevation grid; population count 2020, worldpop 1 km as four classes per cell (edges 11, 47, 405); reference earthquakes as marks.
The Kahramanmaras earthquake sequence of 2023, Turkiye. Flat plan of the same data: relief, the two epicentres with magnitude and depth, the WorldPop count grid and the numbers below. The 3D twin opens on devices with WebGL once its data and library have been checked.
  • Terrain 59 to 3,044 m
  • 2 reference earthquakes, M7.5 to M7.8
  • 3,643,786 people in the box, 2020
  • Earthquakes M4.5 and above, past week: read live when the 3D twin opens
  • USGS ShakeMap intensity contours: read live when the 3D twin opens
Credits and dates per layer are listed under the stage. Relief in the twin is exaggerated ×1.5 for legibility.

Drag to move, right drag or Shift with a drag to turn and tilt, Ctrl with the wheel to zoom. Keyboard: arrows move, Shift with arrows turn and tilt, + and - zoom, 0 resets, V steps through the views, Escape clears.

Flat plan of the same data: relief, the two epicentres with magnitude and depth, the WorldPop count grid and the numbers below. The 3D twin opens on devices with WebGL once its data and library have been checked.

The boundaries, names and designations shown do not imply any judgement on the legal status of any territory, or any endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Countries: Natural Earth (public domain).

10Nexus signature

How biological and epidemic hazards in disaster risk management connects the sectors

Select corners to build a signature, then hover a line to read what each sector gives and receives.

Select corners · hover lines6 / 15 relations

Context

Pandemic

Workforce absence ripples from clinics into grid operations, logistics and farm labour.

W · E · I · F · H · B

Sectors
4 of 6
Relations
6 of 15
Coupling
0.41 share of total

Strongest relations in play

  • Energy → Infrastructure · power for transport and telecoms0.8
  • Food → Health · nutrition0.7
  • Infrastructure → Health · access to care0.5
  • Energy → Food · fertiliser, machinery and cold chains0.5
Teaching values for a typical city-region, not measurements for any place. Coupling is the summed strength of the relations in play, as a share of all fifteen.
11Research hub

Research hub: papers, preprints and datasets

Open scholarly sources searched with the subject terms of Biological and epidemic hazards in disaster risk management.

Search termsBiological and epidemic hazards in disaster risk management; Biological hazards in the Sendai Framework and the Bangkok Principles; Epidemics and pandemics as disaster risks; Zoonoses and spillover at the human, animal and environment interface; Compound disasters: epidemics during floods, cyclones and displacement; Health emergency and disaster risk managementDerived from the Risk Academy page on Biological and epidemic hazards in disaster risk management.

  • OpenAlexlisted for reference; not queried
  • Crossreflisted for reference; not queried
  • DataCitelisted for reference; not queried
  • Zenodolisted for reference; not queried
  • arXivlisted for reference; not queried
  • Europe PMClisted for reference; not queried
  • OpenAIRE Graphlisted for reference; not queried

No source is enabled for live display on this site yet: the sources are listed for reference and none is queried. Once the publisher of record enables a source after its terms are reviewed, recent works are listed here. Metadata and links only: title, authors, venue, year, type, open-access status and licence as each source records them; works are listed for orientation, not reviewed or endorsed.

12Hub

Research and tools

Research and preprints as they are published, by discipline, with the faculty's other tools.

The hub lists the newest research and preprints for Biological and epidemic hazards in disaster risk management, each with its source and date. Open the research hub

13What is changing now

What is changing now

Recent developments in biological and epidemic hazards in disaster risk management, each with its source; sources checked on 16 October 2026.

14Courses

Courses in this discipline

Courses for this discipline are in development; until they open, study it through the connected courses and open lessons below.

The course catalogue lists every open course of the Academy.

15Technology in this area

How technology helps and what risk it brings

16Achievements

Achievements in this discipline

  1. Course achievements

    One for each course with this as its primary discipline, earned when you pass the course's assessed activities.

  2. Department: Disaster Risk Reduction and Early Warning

    Earn two discipline achievements in the Department of Disaster Risk Reduction and Early Warning. In development.

An achievement is a record of the learning completed and assessed here. How recognition works.

17Where this is practised

Where the subject is practised

A field platform page on this subject is in development.

18Practised in

The two Nexus Foundry systems where it is practised

  • Nexus FoundryNorthStar systemOutbreaks during disasters are incidents to corroborateIncidents room
  • AAP systemEpidemic risk is a case for anticipatory actionTriggers room

Nexus Foundry system pages describe what each system and its rooms are designed to do; the courses teach the methods these systems apply.

19Across the ecosystem

Across the ecosystem

21References

Core references and where to begin

Start with World Health Organization, then Lo, then Watson.

NRNexus Reports gateway · GW-ACADEMY

Contribute to Nexus Reports from this page.

Nexus Reports is the Consortium's quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.

Risk Academy
Biological and epidemic hazards in disaster risk management

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