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 […]
Hazards & Disasters
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 […]
A large landslide on the Yukon River in Canada
In May 2025, a 950 m wide landslide occurred on the banks of the Yukon River in Canada. A few days ago, the Yukon Geological Survey posted some information to its Facebook site regarding a large landslide that has occurred on the banks of the Yukon River close to Burma Road. This was the information […]
Inside Volcanic Clouds: Where Tephra Goes and Why It Matters
Monitoring and forecasting the movement of volcanic clouds is key to mitigating the impacts on communities, infrastructure, and air traffic.
Multiple rainfall-triggered landslides in Ho Bon commune Vietnam in August 2023
Between 4 and 6 August 2023, intense rainfall triggered at least 346 landslides in the area around Ho Bon commune in Mu Cang Chai district, Yen Bai province in Vietnam I have written frequently on this blog about clusters of rainfall-induced landslides. Another really interesting example has been highlighted in a paper (Toan et al. […]
Bukit Mantri: a mine waste facility failure in Malaysia
On 17 May 2025, a failure occurred in a mine waste facility at the Tawau gold mine in Malaysia. Images suggest that this might have been an overtopping event in a contaminated water storage pond. On 17 May 2025, there was a failure of a mine waste storage facility at Bukit Mantri in Malaysia. The […]
Landslides triggered by Hurricane Helene in September 2024
The USGS has published a preliminary report on landslides triggered across western North Carolina, northern South Carolina, eastern Tennessee, and parts of southern Virginia by Hurricane Helene in September 2024. Over 2,000 failures were triggered by up to c.700 mm of rainfall in a 72 hour period. Between 26 and 28 September 2024, the remnants […]
Another landslide crisis in Switzerland – debris flows in the Val de Bagnes
30 people have been evacuated in Les Epenays and Fregnoley in the Val de Bagnes in Valais due to the threat of debris flows . As the dust settles on the landslide crisis at Blatten, Swissinfo has published a very nice article highlighting the growing landslide risk in Switzerland. For example, in the canton of […]
The Goldilocks Conditions for Wildfires
Twenty years of data from around the world show that areas that are not too dry and not too wet are most conducive to wildfire burning.
Rising Concerns of Climate Extremes and Land Subsidence Impacts
Increasing interplay among extreme events and land subsidence impacts calls for urgent mitigation and policy action to reduce detrimental ramifications to infrastructure and people.