Illustrative: two backbones and their base pairs, the major and minor grooves, a reading frame travelling along the strand
Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium · Hazards, Disasters and Resilience · Department of Disaster Risk Reduction and Early Warning
Epidemics and biological hazards inside disaster risk management
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.
- Courses
- In preparation
- 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
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.
- 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
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 that can draw it, once its data and code 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).
Environmental exposure in India
Haze, nitrogen dioxide, dust, surface heat by day and night, and where people live, over India.
The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.
Layers 2
Environmental exposure
Keyboard, with the map focused
Hold Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll to zoom
Latest available
NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth
Loading the latest NASA imagery.
Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.
Environmental exposure, framed on India.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date. They are indicators, not assessments of any place.
Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONETSources and licences
- We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- MODIS and VIIRS atmosphere products, NASA LANCE and LAADS DAAC; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- OMI nitrogen dioxide (Aura) and OMPS aerosol index (Suomi NPP), NASA; distributed by the NASA GES DISC; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- MERRA-2 reanalysis, NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office; distributed by the NASA GES DISC; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11. NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). doi:10.7927/H49C6VHW. CC BY 4.0
- NASA Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS), VIIRS 375 m active fire product, NASA LANCE; vector tiles via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
- Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
- © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). ODbL
- Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
- Globe: MapLibre GL JS 6.9.1, BSD-3-Clause, © MapLibre contributors.
- Live events: NASA Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET); events are indicative and keep their original source links.
- NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
- Air quality forecast, 5 days, PM2.5 (CAMS via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information 2026.
- Past year, daily temperature (ERA5 via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
- Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (https://open-meteo.com/), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
- Optional layers (12 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.
Layers and dates
- Aerosol optical depth, daily: VIIRS NOAA-20 Deep Blue AOD, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
- Land surface temperature, day, 8-day composite: VIIRS NOAA-20 Level 3, 8-day, NASA LANCE · 14 Sep 2026
- Nitrogen dioxide, lower atmosphere column: OMI Aura, NASA GES DISC · 10 Oct 2026
- Surface dust PM2.5, monthly mean: MERRA-2, NASA GMAO / GES DISC · July 2026
- Land surface temperature, night, 8-day composite: VIIRS NOAA-20 Level 3, 8-day, NASA LANCE · 14 Sep 2026
- Population density, 2020: Population: CIESIN, Columbia University, Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (2018), NASA SEDAC, CC BY 4.0 · static
- Active fires and thermal anomalies: VIIRS NOAA-20 375 m (FIRMS), NASA LANCE FIRMS · 13 Oct 2026
- Flood water, 3-day composite: VIIRS Global Flood Product, NASA LANCE · 14 Oct 2026
The subject, methods and measures and debates and bodies
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.
Quantities and units
Methods and their limits
Each method is listed with what it assumes and where it fails.
What the field debates
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.
From shelter crowding to an outbreak size: how space per person sets the reproduction number, the attack rate and the care a shelter needs
The number of displaced people and the space each has set the contact rate; the contact rate scales the reproduction number; the reproduction number through the SIR dynamics sets the attack rate; the attack rate times the population and a severity share gives the care the health cluster must plan for.
Sources: World Health Organization, Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management Framework (2019); Watson, Gayer and Connolly, Epidemics after natural disasters (2007); Kermack and McKendrick, A contribution to the mathematical theory of epidemics (1927); Sphere Association, The Sphere Handbook: Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response, fourth edition (2018).
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.
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
At a glance, hub, what is changing now and courses
Biological and epidemic hazards in disaster risk management at a glance
risksacademy.comhazards-resiliencediscipline
- Open, 0
- In preparation, 0
- Subtopics, 8
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
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.
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.
How Biological and epidemic hazards in disaster risk management is taught, as a process you can run
Press Play to run this process from this page's own data.
Practice, learning and connections
How technology helps and what risk it brings
Achievements in this discipline
Course achievements
One for each course with this as its primary discipline, earned when you pass the course's assessed activities.
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.
Where the subject is practised
A field platform page on this subject is in development.
The two Foundry systems where it is practised
- FoundryNXS-NST systemOutbreaks during disasters are incidents to corroborateIncidents room
- NXS-AAP systemEpidemic risk is a case for anticipatory actionTriggers room
Foundry system pages describe what each system and its rooms are designed to do; the courses teach the methods these systems apply.
Across the ecosystem
Take part in Hazards, Disasters and Resilience
Start from who you are.
Core references and where to begin
Start with World Health Organization, then Lo, then Watson.
Questions, answers and key terms
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What does completing a course give me?
Where do the data and the places come from?
How do I take part beyond the courses in biological and epidemic hazards in disaster risk management?
Key terms
Biological hazard
A process or phenomenon of organic origin, such as a pathogen or toxin, that may cause loss of life, illness or disruption.
Health EDRM
The WHO framework for health emergency and disaster risk management across all hazards.
Bangkok Principles
Principles adopted in 2016 for implementing the health aspects of the Sendai Framework.
Spillover
The transmission of a pathogen from an animal reservoir to people.
Contribute evidence from this page.
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.
Around Biological and epidemic hazards in disaster risk management
Prepare with a related course
Open courses in connected disciplines teach the methods this discipline will build on.