disaster area

disaster area (plural disaster areas)

1. An area that has been the site of a natural disaster that receives an official designation entitling residents and organizations within that area to receive relief and benefits.

   Much of the central Gulf Coast was declared a disaster area after hurricane Katrina.

2. (also figuratively) An area that looks like one that has suffered a natural disaster.

   Your room is a disaster area.

   • 2017 December 27, Michael Andor Brodeur, “The meme class of 2017”, in The Boston Globe‎:

     And while our discourse might be a disaster area, the imaginative vistas of the Internet are far more vast than the modest plot of our feeds.