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Civil Unrest

Threat in Public Safety, arrives with intent

A crowd hazard, disorder with intent or a festival that surges, where density, heat and medical calls strain public safety and can persist for days.

Includes: Civil Unrest / Riot, Large-Scale Protest / Mass Gathering

  • Civil Unrest / Riot. An intent-driven threat of disorder and property damage that strains public safety and can persist for days.
  • Large-Scale Protest / Mass Gathering. A crowd-density hazard at protests, festivals and events, where surges, heat and medical calls escalate quickly.
See a sample briefBook a walkthroughAll 31 hazards →

Sample brief

The first page of a Civil Unrest brief: likelihood, impact and readiness on your own scale, with each figure sourced.

Evidence brief for Cedar Ridge County (example)

September 14, 2026

Civil Unrest

Threat in Public Safety, on the established threats & hazards list

Impact
5432112345

Likelihood

Likelihood
2

Unlikely — Possible but infrequent — roughly once in 50 to 100 years (1–2% chance in any year).

Impact
3

Moderate — Notable effects — injuries possible, damage in multiple areas, essential services disrupted for days.

Readiness
3

Moderate — The organization has a generally established capability to manage this threat or hazard, but identifiable gaps remain. The organization could likely perform many required actions, though effectiveness may vary depending on conditions, staffing, resources, or complexity.

  • 2source documents
  • 58verified mentions
  • —federal declarations
  • —NRI risk score
Worked example: Cedar Ridge County is fictional. The scores illustrate the format and are nobody's decision. Open a full sample brief →

The national record

FEMA’s National Risk Index doesn’t model Civil Unrest. Your team fills it with local evidence, and Hazzard shows the gap rather than a zero.

How it maps

The same hazard in the vocabularies your plan and FEMA already use.

FEMA National Risk Index
Not covered
FEMA declaration incident type
Not covered
NOAA Storm Events type
Not covered
Hazzard category
Public Safety, human-causedincludes Civil Unrest / Riot, Large-Scale Protest / Mass Gathering

The national record

What the federal data says about Civil Unrest: nothing yet

No federal dataset scores Civil Unrest or files declarations under it. That's common for threats and emerging hazards, and it's why a brief for Civil Unrest is built from your own plans, exercises and records. Hazzard shows the gap instead of inventing a number.

In your plan

What a Civil Unrest profile needs, and where each part comes from

A local hazard mitigation plan profiles each hazard the same way (44 CFR 201.6). Here is how Hazzard fills each part for Civil Unrest.

  1. Location

    44 CFR 201.6(c)(2)(i)

    Your documents

    No national layer maps Civil Unrest. We draw the geographic extent from your plans, studies and annexes, cited to the page.

  2. Extent

    44 CFR 201.6(c)(2)(i)

    Your documents

    The magnitude your plans use for Civil Unrest (a scale, a depth, an acreage, a duration), read from your documents and cited, so the profile states the strength you plan for.

  3. Previous occurrences

    44 CFR 201.6(c)(2)(i)

    Your documents

    FEMA files no declaration type for Civil Unrest. The history comes from your after-action reports, incident records and plans.

  4. Probability of future events

    44 CFR 201.6(c)(2)(i)

    Your team decides

    No national dataset gives a frequency for Civil Unrest. Your team scores likelihood on your scale from the evidence we organize.

  5. Vulnerability and impacts

    44 CFR 201.6(c)(2)(ii)

    Your documents

    The Census population profile and HHS emPOWER counts for context; the consequences themselves come from your plans and exercises.

  6. The assessment itself

    Your team decides

    Likelihood, impact and readiness for Civil Unrest are drafted with every source attached, and a person on your team accepts each one. Hazzard never records a score on its own.

How we can help

How we’d help you prepare for Civil Unrest

  1. 1

    We start from what you own

    Your EOP, threat assessments and after-action reports, filed so each statement about Civil Unrest points to its page.

  2. 2

    We mark the gaps

    Where federal data is silent, the brief says so. Your team's local evidence carries the score instead of a zero.

  3. 3

    You leave with a cited brief

    Likelihood, impact and readiness for Civil Unrest on your own scale, with each figure tied to its source. It is ready for your planning team or council.

Also in Public Safety

Preparing for Civil Unrest

Assess Civil Unrest from the evidence you already hold.

No federal dataset scores targeted violence for your county. We build the assessment from your own plans, exercises and after-action reports. We reply within one business day.

Book a walkthrough

Takes about two minutes. A person reads each request.

Or start by marking your area on the map