"Nowhere in the IRS publications for disasters does it differentiate between major disasters & qualified major disasters yet the outcome is quite different."

These will be helpful to you:

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/disaster-assistance-and-emergency-reli...

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/tax-relief-in-disaster-situations

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/tax-relief-presidentially-declared-disaster-areas

https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc515

"A federally declared disaster is a disaster that occurred in an area declared by the President to be eligible for federal assistance under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act. It includes a major disaster or emergency declaration under the Act. See Publication 547, Casualties, Disasters, and Thefts, Publication 2194, Disaster Resource Guide PDF and Publication 976, Disaster Relief for more information."

And there is published guidance which also can be seen as news updates: