Civil disturbance

Any incident that disrupts a community where intervention is required to maintain public safety constitutes a civil disturbance. Some examples are demonstrations, riots, strikes, public nuisances, and criminal activities. Civil disturbance incidences may include resistance or rejection of all different types of control and authority. They tend to occur in areas of concentrated populations including sporting, concert, cultural and conference events. Some areas subject to civil disturbances may include college communities, areas with concentrations of disparate economic status populations and government offices. Some examples of criminal activities associated with civil disturbances may include looting, assault, property or environmental damage, illegal drug use or distribution, fire-setting, vandalism and violation of noise ordinances.

terrorism
Devastating acts such as the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon have left many concerned about the possibility of future incidents in the United States and their potential impact. These attacks have raised uncertainty about what might happen next. Terrorism may involve devastating acts using weapons of mass destruction ranging from chemical agents, biological hazards, a radiological or nuclear device, and other explosives. The primary objective of a terrorist is to create widespread fear. Nevertheless, there are things you can do to prepare for the unexpected and reduce the stress that you may feel now and later, should another emergency arise. The Palm Beach County Terrorism Response Program coordinates with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the United States Department of Homeland Security to ensure that the Countys terrorism response plan meets all state and federal requirements. Activities integrated in this coordination include planning, training, exercising, critical infrastructure enhancement, inter-agency cooperation, as well as grant identification and expenditure mechanisms to ensure that Palm Beach County has a viable anti-terrorism program that includes cross-agency training and development. The program provides local partner agencies with support and technical assistance in order to adequately address their homeland security needs. In addition to the local activities, the program also participates in State and Federal planning groups and task forces. If you Receive a Bomb Threat:

Ask the caller the following questions: When is the bomb going to explode? Where is the bomb right now? What kind of bomb is it? What does the bomb look like? Why did you place the bomb? Where are you calling from? Record the exact time and length of the call. Write down the exact words of the caller. Listen carefully to the caller's voice and background noise. After you hang up, call 9-1-1 immediately from a hard-wired telephone. Do NOT use cell phones to report a bomb threat. The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/11[nb 1]) were a series of four coordinated suicide attacks upon the United States in New York City and the Washington, D.C., area on September 11, 2001. On that Tuesday morning, 19 terrorists from the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda hijacked four passenger jets. The hijackers intentionally crashed two planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City; both towers collapsed within two hours. Hijackers crashed American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth jet, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers attempted to take control before it could reach the hijacker's intended target in Washington, D.C. Nearly 3,000 died in the attacks.

Nuclear disaster
A nuclear disaster could take several forms. The most obvious would be a meltdown at a nuclear reactor plant. Though the plant could not explode, the results of such a disaster would very likely be the release of massive amounts of radiation and radioactive material into the environment. And it would take hundreds of years to decay to anything near "safe" levels. Cleaning it up is out of the question, as exemplified by the Chernobyl disaster. In the Ukraine event, the reactor actually caught fire and burned. Prypiat is a ghost town. In the case of Three Mile Island, the meltdown was contained within the reactor vessel and the containment building, but there were some large releases of steam that was heavily laced with the radioactive debris of spent fuel fission fragments. These radioactive materials, which would normally be contained inside fuel elements, were released into the primary coolant when a loss-of-coolant accident overcame the plant.

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster

The biggest news, by far, right now is the devastation in Japan caused by the earthquake-tsunami double disaster and, in particular, the damage done to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma. Ill let

Dave and Alex, both of whom know more about the issues than I do, weigh in on the latter but STRATFOR has what appears to be a good primer.

Chemical spill
A chemical spill is a situation in which a chemical is accidentally released. In the case of non-toxic chemicals, dealing with a spill is usually very straightforward, since the spill simply needs to be cleaned up. However, spills of toxic chemicals represent a more serious problem, especially in the case of spills of multiple chemicals which could react with each other. Many nations have specific laws concerning largescale chemical spills such as the release of chemicals from a damaged chemical tanker.
The Bhopal disaster also known as Bhopal Gas Tragedy was a gas leak accident in India, considered one of the world's worst industrial catastrophes.[1] It occurred on the night of December 23, 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited(UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. A leak of methyl isocyanate gas and other chemicals from the plant resulted in the exposure of hundreds of thousands of people. Estimates vary on the death toll. The official immediate death toll was 2,259 and the government of Madhya Pradesh has confirmed a total of 3,787 deaths related to the gas release.[2] Others estimate 3,000 died within weeks and another 8,000 have since died from gas-related diseases.[3][4] A government affidavit in 2006 stated the leak caused 558,125 injuries including 38,478 temporary partial and approximately 3,900 severely and permanently disabling injuries

Detonation of explosives.

Gasoline explosions, simulating bombdrops at an airshow.

Black smoke from an explosion rising after a bomb detonation inside the outsideNahr al-Bared, Lebanon.

Detonation of a MICLIC to destroy a 1km in depth blast resistant minefield in Iraq.

Explosion
An explosion is a rapid increase in volume and release of energy in an extreme manner, usually with the generation of high temperatures and the release of gases. An explosion creates a shock wave. If the shock wave is a supersonic detonation, then the source of the blast is called a "high explosive". Subsonic shock waves are created by low explosives through the slower burning process known as deflagration.

Chemical The most common artificial explosives are chemical explosives, usually involving a rapid and violent oxidation reaction that produces large amounts of hot gas. Gunpowder was the first explosive to be discovered and put to use. Other notable early developments in chemical explosive technology were Frederick Augustus Abel's development of nitrocellulose in 1865 and Alfred Nobel's invention of dynamite in 1866. Chemical explosions (both intentional and accidental) are often initiated by an electric spark or flame. Accidental explosions may occur in fuel tanks, rocket engines, etc. Electrical and magnetic A high current electrical fault can create an electrical explosion by forming a high energy electrical arc which rapidly vaporizes metal and insulation material. This arc flash hazard is a danger to persons working on energized switchgear. Also, excessive magnetic pressure within an ultra-strongelectromagnet can cause a magnetic explosion

Fire disaster
For longer than recorded history, fire has been a source of comfort and catastrophe for the human race. Fire is rapid, self-sustaining oxidation process accompanied by the evolution of heat and light in varying intensities. Fire is believed to be based on three elements being present: fuel, heat and oxidizer. Fire disasters can occur above the ground (in tall buildings and on planes), on the ground, and below the ground (in mines). Sometimes they occur incircumstances that are unexpected or unpredictable. Firestorms can be natural or human- generated. Natural firestorms develop from forest fires like one happened in Peshtigo,Wisconsin, in 1871. It burned more than 2,000 square miles of forest and killed approximately 2,300 people. Human-generated firestorms result from incendiary bombing. In Hamburg, Germany, on February 27, 1943, the Allied Forces dropped bombs that caused a firestorm, which destroyed 3.2 square miles of the city and killed 21,000 residents. In Dresden, Germany, on February 13 and 14 1945, bombs induced a firestorm that burned 4.6 square miles of the city and killed 135,000 people.