Preface

The items below are the major, credible events that can rapidly upend daily life—closing stores and schools, straining hospitals, disrupting water, fuel, and money flows, and raising the risk of violence. For each, you’ll see what it is and the core threat to families.

• Power Grid Failure

What it is: A cascading collapse of electric networks from equipment failure, extreme weather, or attack.
Threat: Stops water pumping, fuel delivery, payments, refrigeration, and most communications; hospitals and public safety run on limited generators; civil order frays as outages persist.

• Pandemic

What it is: Rapid, sustained spread of a novel pathogen.
Threat: Overloads hospitals, disrupts work/school, breaks supply chains, raises mortality—especially for seniors and the medically vulnerable.

• EMP or Severe Geomagnetic Storm

What it is: A powerful electromagnetic surge (high-altitude detonation or extreme solar storm).
Threat: Damages electronics and grid controls over wide areas, causing prolonged outages and knocking out transport and communications.

• Critical-Infrastructure Cyberattack

What it is: Coordinated hacking of power, water, telecom, finance, or transport systems.
Threat: Service outages, data loss, payment failures, and cascading economic shock; emergency response is slower and less coordinated.

• Economic Depression / Financial Crisis

What it is: Systemic market/banking failure with mass layoffs and frozen credit.
Threat: Job loss, evictions, food insecurity, spikes in crime/unrest, and long recovery timelines.

• Civil Unrest and Riots

What it is: Large-scale violent demonstrations triggered by political, social, or policing flashpoints.
Threat: Curfews, roadblocks, looting, arson, assaults/shootings; delayed emergency services and business closures.

• Conventional War or Large-Scale Terrorism on U.S. Soil

What it is: Organized attacks against cities or infrastructure.
Threat: Mass casualties, movement restrictions, long-term psychological and economic damage.

• CBRN Incident (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear)

What it is: Release or detonation of hazardous agents.
Threat: Acute poisoning, contaminated air/water/land, shelter-in-place or evacuation orders, lasting health risks.

• Nuclear Strike or Detonation

What it is: Use of nuclear weapons (single or multiple).
Threat: Blast/thermal injuries, EMP effects, fallout, long-term displacement and infrastructure collapse.

• Catastrophic Flooding or Dam Failure

What it is: Riverine, coastal, or infrastructure-driven inundation.
Threat: Homes and farms wiped out, roads impassable, water systems contaminated, extended power loss.

• Famine and Global Supply-Chain Collapse

What it is: Sustained food shortfalls from crop failure, conflict, or trade shocks.
Threat: Malnutrition, rationing, price spikes, unrest, cross-border humanitarian crises.

• Industrial Accidents and Hazmat Releases

What it is: Explosions, toxic leaks, derailments, or plant failures.
Threat: Acute injuries, mass evacuations, long-term environmental and health damage.

• AI-Driven Job Displacement

What it is: Rapid automation outpacing retraining and safety nets.
Threat: Erosion of middle-class stability, rising poverty and crime, reduced access to healthcare and housing.

• Information Warfare and Disinformation

What it is: Engineered lies and fabricated media at scale.
Threat: Panic, mob behavior, delegitimized authorities, misdirection into unsafe areas, and slower recovery.

• Natural Disasters

What it is: Extreme destruction from earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, flooding, and wildfires across large areas.
Threat: Neighborhoods leveled, air/water contamination, evacuations, prolonged utility outages, supply disruptions, toxic gases, bacteria and pathogens.

• Water Scarcity

What it is: Multi-season precipitation deficits and aquifer depletion.
Threat: Reduced crop yields, higher food prices, water rationing, wildfire risk, migration pressures.