Natural Disasters Word Search

Print 16 natural disaster words with an answer key, or swap in the storm, earthquake, wildfire or warning list.

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0 of 16 words found

LPDJHMUDSLIDELL

ARABDIEPICENTER

OEFJDARHURRFSTA

FSTWGCYCIYOLUYA

SCERUPTIONEONPZ

HURRICANEXLOAHG

EESTEJWHSNLDMOR

LDHAVALANCHEIOS

TKOHAZARDBOAGNX

EFCICNCFFICANPH

RPKKUWILDFIRENI

CFOWARNINGNVRAH

WHEITUOFESVHGLE

KLGCELBBLIZZARD

DDLNDHWHDNIBAPN

This grid is wider and taller than its box. Slide it to see every letter.To drag, hold the first letter for a moment, then slide.Keyboard: Tab to the grid, arrow keys to move, Enter on the first and last letter.

TsunamiTSUNAMI
HurricaneHURRICANE
WildfireWILDFIRE
FloodFLOOD
AvalancheAVALANCHE
BlizzardBLIZZARD
EruptionERUPTION
TyphoonTYPHOON
MudslideMUDSLIDE
AftershockAFTERSHOCK
EpicenterEPICENTER
EvacuateEVACUATE
ShelterSHELTER
WarningWARNING
RescueRESCUE
HazardHAZARD

16 of 24 words from the Natural Disasters Key Terms list.

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Answer key: Natural Disasters Word Search

LPDJHMUDSLIDELL

ARABDIEPICENTER

OEFJDARHURRFSTA

FSTWGCYCIYOLUYA

SCERUPTIONEONPZ

HURRICANEXLOAHG

EESTEJWHSNLDMOR

LDHAVALANCHEIOS

TKOHAZARDBOAGNX

EFCICNCFFICANPH

RPKKUWILDFIRENI

CFOWARNINGNVRAH

WHEITUOFESVHGLE

KLGCELBBLIZZARD

DDLNDHWHDNIBAPN

TSUNAMI, HURRICANE, WILDFIRE, FLOOD, AVALANCHE, BLIZZARD, ERUPTION, TYPHOON, MUDSLIDE, AFTERSHOCK, EPICENTER, EVACUATE, SHELTER, WARNING, RESCUE, HAZARD

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All 109 words

Kinds of Natural Disaster 22

Avalanche A rapid flow of snow down a hill or mountain.
Blizzard A severe snowstorm with strong winds and low visibility that lasts for hours.
Cold wave A rapid fall in temperature within a day; also called a cold snap.
Cyclone The usual name for a hurricane-like storm in the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific.
Drought A period of drier-than-normal conditions; it can last for days, months or years.
Dust storm Strong wind blowing loose sand and dirt off dry ground; also called a sandstorm.
Earthquake A shaking of Earth's surface when energy stored in the rocks is suddenly released.
Eruption What happens when material is thrown out of a volcanic vent or fissure.
Firestorm A fire so intense that it creates and keeps up its own wind system.
Flood An overflow of water that covers land that is usually dry.
Hailstorm A storm that drops balls or lumps of ice.
Heat wave A period of abnormally hot weather that lasts for several days.
Hurricane A strong tropical cyclone in the Atlantic Ocean or the northeastern Pacific Ocean.
Ice storm A winter storm of freezing rain that leaves a coat of ice on what it touches.

Show all 109 words (95 more)

Kinds of Natural Disaster, continued

Landslide A mass of rock, earth or debris moving down a slope.
Mudslide A fast flow of dirt and debris turned liquid by water; also called a mudflow.
Sinkhole A hole in the ground made when the surface layer collapses.
Thunderstorm A storm with lightning and thunder, formed in a cumulonimbus cloud.
Tornado A rapidly rotating column of air that reaches from a cloud down to the ground.
Tsunami A series of waves made when a large volume of water is suddenly pushed out of place.
Typhoon A strong tropical cyclone in the northwestern Pacific Ocean.
Wildfire An unplanned, uncontrolled fire in an area of vegetation that can burn.

Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Landslides 21

Aftershock A smaller earthquake that follows a larger one in the same area.
Ash Tiny fragments of rock and volcanic glass thrown out in an eruption.
Collapse To fall down or cave in suddenly.
Debris flow A water-laden mass of soil and broken rock that flows down a mountainside.
Epicenter The point on Earth's surface directly above the place where an earthquake starts.
Fault A fracture in rock along which the two sides have moved.
Lahar A violent flow of volcanic debris and water that rushes down from a volcano.
Lava Molten rock that has come out onto the surface.
Liquefaction When shaking makes wet soil lose its strength and behave like a liquid.
Magnitude A number for the overall strength of an earthquake; each one has just one.
Plate One of the large moving pieces of Earth's outer shell; the largest faults lie between them.
Quake The short, everyday word for an earthquake.
Richter The name of a scale for the strength of earthquakes, presented in 1935.
Rockfall A quantity of rock that has fallen from a cliff face.
Rubble Broken stone and brick left where a building has fallen.
Seiche A standing wave in a lake, bay or harbor; an earthquake can set one off.
Seismic Having to do with earthquakes, like the waves that one sends out.
Seismograph An instrument that senses ground shaking and records it.
Slope Ground that tilts; landslides happen on steep ones and on gentle ones.
Subsidence A downward movement of the ground surface, with little or no sideways movement.
Tremor A shaking of the ground; another name for an earthquake.

Storms and Floods 21

Category One of the five levels, set by wind speed, used to class a hurricane.
Crest The highest level a flood wave reaches as it passes a point.
Eyewall The ring of towering thunderstorms around a hurricane's calm center, with its highest winds.
Flash flood A rapid flooding of low-lying areas, often after heavy rain from a severe storm.
Floodplain The flat land beside a river that goes under water when the river runs high.
Funnel The cone shape of the cloud that often makes a tornado visible.
Hailstone One ball or lump of ice from a storm.
Landfall The moment a storm moves over land after being over water.
Levee A raised ridge along a river bank, often built to protect the land beside it from flooding.
Lightning A giant natural spark between electrically charged regions of the sky, or sky and ground.
Overflow To spill over the banks or the top, as a swollen river does.
Rainfall The amount of rain that comes down in one place.
Snowstorm A storm of heavy snow; a severe, windy one is a blizzard.
Storm surge A rise of sea water above the normal tide level, pushed ashore by a storm.
Supercell A thunderstorm with a deep, lasting, rotating updraft.
Tropical storm A tropical cyclone whose winds are below hurricane strength.
Twister Another name for a tornado.
Vortex A spinning mass of air or water.
Wall cloud A local, lasting lowering of the base of a storm cloud; a tornado sometimes forms from one.
Whiteout Snow so heavy that the horizon disappears and nothing can be told apart.
Wind chill A measure of how cold people and animals feel outside in wind and cold.

Wildfire, Heat and Drought 21

Blaze A large, bright, strongly burning fire.
Brush Low, scrubby vegetation; a fire in it has its own name.
Bushfire Another name for a wildfire, used especially in Australia.
Containment Holding a wildfire inside a line so that it cannot spread.
Crop failure The loss of a harvest, as can happen in a long drought.
Dry spell A stretch of weather with little or no rain.
Ember A hot, glowing lump of smoldering wood; wind can carry one and start a new fire.
Famine A widespread scarcity of food; crop failure after a disaster is one cause.
Firebreak A gap with nothing to burn that slows or stops the spread of a wildfire.
Firefighter A person trained to put out fires.
Flames The glowing, moving part of a fire.
Forest fire A wildfire burning among trees.
Fuel Anything that can burn; for a wildfire, the vegetation in its path.
Ignite To catch fire, or to set something on fire.
Parched Very dry, as land is in a drought.
Scorch To burn the surface of something.
Smoke The cloud of tiny particles and gases given off when something burns.
Smolder To burn slowly without a flame.
Soot The fine black powder that burning leaves behind.
Spark A tiny glowing particle that can start a fire.
Vegetation The plants that cover an area of land.

Warnings and Getting Ready 24

Alert A message that tells people to be ready for danger.
Damage Harm done to buildings, roads and land.
Drill A practice run of what to do in an emergency.
Emergency A sudden, serious situation that calls for action right away.
Evacuate To leave a place of danger for a safer one.
Flashlight A battery-powered light to carry by hand when the power is out.
Hazard A possible source of harm, such as a flood, a quake or a storm.
Prepare To get ready ahead of time.
Radio A way to hear news and alerts without a phone or the internet.
Rebuild To put up again what was destroyed.
Recovery The work of getting a community back to normal after a disaster.
Relief Help such as food, water and shelter given to people after a disaster.
Rescue To find people in distress or danger and bring them to safety.
Risk The chance that a hazard will cause harm, and how bad the harm could be.
Route The way to go; a planned one leads out of a danger area.
Sandbag A sack filled with sand or soil, stacked in walls for flood control.
Shelter A place that gives protection, or a temporary place to live after a disaster.
Siren A loud outdoor signal used to warn people of approaching danger.
Storm cellar An underground room built to protect people from severe weather, above all tornadoes.
Supplies The food, water and tools kept ready in a kit for an emergency.
Survivor A person who lives through a disaster.
Volunteer A person who helps without being paid.
Warning An alert that a hazardous event is happening, is about to, or is very likely.
Watch An alert that the risk of a hazardous event has risen, though where and when is unsure.

How this list was compiled: Own work: the word list and every clue were written for this page. The facts in the clues were checked on 2026-10-08 against English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), among them the articles on the natural disaster (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_disaster), the tropical cyclone (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_cyclone), the earthquake (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake) and the wildfire (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildfire), against the glossary of the United States National Weather Service (https://forecast.weather.gov/glossary.php) and against the earthquake glossary of the United States Geological Survey (https://www.usgs.gov/glossary/earthquake-hazards-program). Licence: own work

How it works

This natural disasters word search opens on the main kinds of disaster, from Earthquake to Blizzard, beside words such as Aftershock and Evacuate. Four more lists go inside them: shaking ground, storms and floods, fire and drought, warning and rescue.

Read the full guide

A natural disaster word search printable for each kind

Pick a list under Start from a list and the sheet prints under its name. Kinds of Natural Disaster has 22 words, Sinkhole, Firestorm and Ice storm among them. Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Landslides has 21, such as Aftershock, Epicenter, Liquefaction and Lahar. Storms and Floods has 21: Eyewall, Storm surge, Landfall, Levee.

Wildfire words and warning words

Wildfire, Heat and Drought has 21 words, from Ember, Firebreak and Smolder to Famine and Crop failure. Warnings and Getting Ready has 24, among them Evacuate, Siren, Sandbag, Shelter and Storm cellar. Easy Natural Disasters keeps to 24 words of 3 to 5 letters, such as Flood, Quake, Lava and Ash.

Hurricane, Typhoon and Cyclone are one kind of storm under three names, and all three are key terms.
Heat wave, Flash flood, Storm surge and Tropical storm each hide as one run of letters: FLASHFLOOD.

Questions and answers

What are the types of natural disasters?

Some are geological: earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, landslides, avalanches and sinkholes. Others come from extreme weather: heat waves, droughts, dust storms and wildfires in hot, dry conditions; floods, thunderstorms, tropical cyclones and tornadoes; blizzards and hailstorms in the cold.

What is the difference between a hurricane, a typhoon and a cyclone?

Only the place. A strong tropical cyclone is called a hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean and the northeastern Pacific, and a typhoon in the northwestern Pacific. In the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific the usual name is tropical cyclone.

What is an aftershock?

A smaller earthquake that follows a larger one in the same area, as the displaced crust adjusts to the main shock. A large earthquake can have hundreds to thousands of aftershocks, and they grow weaker and less frequent with time.

Does the natural disasters word search print with an answer key?

Yes, the key follows the puzzle on its own page, Letter or A4. Tick Show clues, not words, and Tsunami prints as "A series of waves made when a large volume of water is suddenly pushed out of place."

All 109 words

Kinds of Natural Disaster 22

Kinds of Natural Disaster, continued

Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Landslides 21

Storms and Floods 21

Wildfire, Heat and Drought 21

Warnings and Getting Ready 24

How it works

A natural disaster word search printable for each kind

Wildfire words and warning words

Questions and answers

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