There is currently a big debate on the importance of clarifying the differences between large-scale pandemics and smaller scale pandemics, but all pandemics affect a large population. Even if the death rate is less than 1% among several billion people, that still represents a lot of deaths. It is very different from the annual flu.
To distinguish between this situation and a tsunami, a hurricane or similar disaster, in the future, everyone can have a system to identify the different levels. This virus may be very similar to the virus of the first pandemic in the 20th century because the world is now very different. We have antiviral drugs, vaccines and good treatment. A lot of progress has been made since the First World War. Things are very different, but the virus has characteristics similar to the influenza virus, the flu. In addition, healthy people are more affected. They have a higher death rate.