Geophysical and Hydrological Hazard-Related Disasters in Europe, 2000-2025: A Retrospective Analysis
Filippo Sanna, Leonardo Capitanio, Roberto PieralliAbstract
Objective
To examine the frequency, distribution, and human impact (specifically fatalities and injuries) of geophysical and hydrological hazard-related disasters in Europe from 2000 to 2025.
Methods
We conducted a retrospective analysis of Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT, CRED/UCLouvain, Brussels, Belgium) records. Included events were earthquakes, volcanic activity, dry mass movements, floods, wet mass movements, and wave action. Deaths and injuries were summarized descriptively and compared using appropriate statistical tests.
Results
A total of 566 events were identified, of which 510 (90.1%) were hydrological and 56 (9.9%) geophysical. Floods were the most frequent events (n = 492), while earthquakes ranked second overall (n = 52). Southern Europe recorded the highest number of deaths, whereas Eastern Europe had the highest number of injuries. Overall, the examined events caused 3,547 deaths and 14,470 injuries. Median deaths did not differ significantly between groups ( P = 0.791), while median injuries were higher in geophysical events ( P = 0.036).
Conclusions
In Europe, hydrological hazard-related emergency events were more common than geophysical hazard-related emergency events. However, most fatalities and injuries resulted from a few severe floods and earthquakes with distinct geographic patterns. Because event frequency does not directly reflect harm to humans, these findings further highlight the importance of an all-hazard approach to emergency planning; disaster preparedness should align resilience strategies with regional hazard profiles, population vulnerability, and health-system capacity.