A crisis can be defined as any unpredicted event that has widespread negative consequences. In a business management context, this means a crisis causes major disruptions to the normal operations of an organization. An example was the "Ever Given", a 400-metre long container ship that was carrying 18,300 containers before it got wedged sideways across the waterway in the Suez Canal.
Generic examples of crises include power failures, workers going on strike, an economic recession, liquidity problems (a financial crisis), technological failures (e.g., security breaches, machinery breakdowns, and problems with Internet technologies), severe weather conditions (e.g., major flooding, hurricanes, droughts, snowstorms, and forest fires), and natural disasters (e.g., earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, and tsunamis).
