Fatal landslides in April 2025
In April 2025, I recorded 41 fatal landslides that cost 107 lives. I’m somewhat behind with posting updates on global fatal landslides due to other workload pressures – please accept my apologies. Please be assured that I’m still collecting the data and that I will make a summary available as soon as I can. Somewhat belatedly, here is a summary for April 2025 (the same report for the previous month is available here). As always, a reminder that this is a dataset on landslides that cause loss of life, following the methodology of Froude and Petley (2018). At this point,…
The 22 November 1815 Gejer Bali disaster
A new paper (Faral et al. 2025) provides details of a seismically-triggered landslide cascade and tsunami that killed up to 12,000 people. On 22 November 1815, a very significant landslide disaster occurred in Bali, in what is now Indonesia, killing between 10,000 and 12,000 people. A very interesting new paper (Faral et al. 2025) in the journal Geomorphology has sought to investigate and understand this catastrophe. The event, which occurred on Buyan-Bratan caldera, was triggered by the Mw=7.3 1815 Bali earthquake offshore. This triggered a translational landslide near the peak of the caldera. To provide a context, this is a…
The 19 June 2025 landslide at the Rubaya mining site in the Democratic Republic of Congo
A major slope failure killed many people, possibly over 300, in an area of unlicenced mining of the mineral Coltan. On 19 June 2025, a very significant landslide occurred at the Rubaya mining site in Masisi territory, North Kivu, which is located in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The landslide, which reportedly affected a place called Bibatama, killed at least 21 people, but in all probability many more people died. Local news site Mines.cd reports over 300 fatalities. The Rubaya mining area is a large, unlicenced and unregulated shallow excavation for the extraction of…
Landslides during periods of glacial retreat in Alaska
An excellent new paper (Walden et al. 2025) examines the occurrence of accelerated movement in rock slope landslides in Alaska as adjacent glaciers melt. The exceptional temperatures in recent days in both North America and Europe has once again highlighted the rate at which the climate is changing in response to anthropogenic increases in greenhouse…
The 24 June 2025 landslide at Granizal near to Medellín, Colombia
A major landslide has occurred in the vicinity of Altos de Oriente and Manantiales, near to Medellín and Bello, in Colombia. It is believed that about 25 people died. On 24 June 2025 at 3:20 am, a large landslide occurred in the vicinity of Altos de Oriente and Manantiales, near to Granizal in Colombia. At…
The 24 June 2025 landslide at Houzihé Grand Bridge in Guizhou, China
A significant landslide has destroyed a major bridge on the Xiarong Expressway in Guizhou, China. On 24 June 2025, intense rainfall triggered a significant landslide at the site of the Houzihé Grand Bridge, which is a part of the Xiarong Expressway (a key road that is also known as Xiamen–Chengdu Expressway (route G76). The landslide…
The 3 August 2024 debris flow in the Ridi valley, Kangding, Sichuan Province, China
27 people were killed by a massive channelised debris flow in China last year. On 3 August 2024, a large debris flow occurred in the Ridi valley, Kangding, Sichuan Province, China. This event is described in a paper (Cheng et al. 2025) just published in the journal Landslides. Whilst the paper itself is behind a…
The 15 June 2025 landslide at Zhonghe in western Guangdong province, China
A community in China had a narrow escape when a landslide, triggered by Typhoon Wutip, occurred on the slopes above the village. Fortunately, the population had been evacuated when a local woman noted signs that a failure might be imminent. At about 4 am on 15 June 2025, rainfall associated with the remnants of Typhoon…
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About Dave
Dave Petley is the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hull in the United Kingdom. His blog provides commentary and analysis of landslide events occurring worldwide, including the landslides themselves, latest research, and conferences and meetings.