The U.S. Disaster Timeline highlights significant disasters of natural or human-made origin that occurred in the United States, along with major legislation, executive actions, seminal studies, and reports that shaped emergency management and homeland security in the United States.
The U.S. Disaster Timeline is interactive and starts in 1900. Where applicable, events are visually connected. Users can explore logical and temporal connections by clicking on an event or filter events by interest (e.g., natural hazards, terrorism) or time period.
The U.S. Disaster Timeline is not exhaustive. Numerous events, research, and federal actions were excluded. For a more exhaustive list of hazards affecting the United States, we refer the reader to our Spatial Hazard Events and Losses Database for the U.S.
The U.S. Disaster Timeline was launched on October 2, 2026, and is updated regularly.
Citation:
Gall, M., Gorantla, R., Schmoll, C., & Gupta, V., 2026. U.S. Disaster Timeline (Beta Version), Center for Emergency Management and Homeland Security, Arizona State University. http://sheldus.asu.edu/timeline
Acknowledgment:
We thank Claire Rubin and Irmak Renda-Tanali for their support and feedback during the transition of their original work into a digital and interactive format. The disaster timeline is a continuation and update of the Disaster Time Line: Major Focusing Events and U.S. Outcomes (1978 - 2006) by Claire B. Rubin, Irmak Renda-Tanali, and William R. Cumming.