In April 2026 I recorded 36 fatal landslides causing 90 fatalities, the lowest monthly total for 2026 to date. This is my regular update for the number of fatal global landslides, focusing on April 2026. As usual, this data has been collected in line with the methodology described in Froude and Petley (2018) and in Petley (2012). References […]
Hazards & Disasters
Posted inThe Landslide Blog
The 10 August 2025 landslide and tsunami at Tracy Arm fjord in Alaska
A wonderful new paper on the huge Tracy Arm landslide and tsunami will have profound but challenging implications for the management of risk in an age of increased tourism and rapid climate change. The journal Science has published an excellent new paper (Shugar et al. 2026) that examines the extraordinary 10 August 2025 landslide and […]
Posted inNews
The Forensics of a Skyscraper-Sized Tsunami
A landslide in Tracy Arm Fjord in Alaska created the second-largest tsunami on record. A new analysis links this abrupt event to the retreat of a glacier and, ultimately, to climate change.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Let’s Not Forget About Long Droughts
Why do conceptual hydrologic models struggle to model long-term droughts? A new study investigates.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Can Any Single Satellite Keep Up with the World’s Floods?
How well does our current satellite fleet capture the world’s major floods? Scientists turn to the Dartmouth Flood Observatory record for a data-driven answer.
Posted inThe Landslide Blog
The 9 April 2026 landslide at Lamarain in Papua New Guinea
Ten people were killed in a large landslide in Papua New Guinea triggered by heavy rainfall associated with Tropical Cyclone Maila. On 9 April 2026, a large landslide occurred at Lamarain in the Inland Baining LLG of Gazelle District in Papua New Guinea. The landslide was triggered by heavy rainfall associated with the passage of […]
Posted inThe Landslide Blog
On the growth of research in landslides
Since 1994 there has been a 32 times increase in the number of research outputs with the keyword “landslide”. In a couple of weeks time, I have the pleasure of being one of the invited speakers at the Landslide Risk and Geoengineering (LaRGE) Conference in Queenstown, New Zealand. Ahead of that presentation, I’ve been using […]
Posted inThe Landslide Blog
Landslides in Art Part 36: The Great Landslide of 1664 of Runswick Bay on The day Village That Slipped into the Sea by “Jotter”
The Landslide Blog is written by Dave Petley, who is widely recognized as a world leader in the study and management of landslides. I’ve not posted about Landslides in Art much in recent years – the most recent edition was almost two years ago – but loyal readers will know that this is a long […]
Posted inThe Landslide Blog
Wealth and land-cover change govern landslide fatalities on world’s mountains
A new paper Fidan et al. (2026) demonstrates that wealth and the rate of land-cover change play a key role in determining the occurrence of fatal landslides in mountain areas. These factors are statistically more significant that precipitation and topography. A fascinating new paper (Fidan et al. 2026 – this paper is both open access […]
Posted inThe Landslide Blog
The 19 March 2026 landslide on Interstate 5 near Bellingham in Washington State, USA
Post based on material kindly provided by Professor Douglas H. Clark of the Geology Department at Western Washington University. Many thanks to Doug for providing this information. On 19 March 2026, a c.2000 cubic metre rockslide blocked the northern bound lanes of Interstate 5 near to Bellingham, WA. The road will not fully reopen until […]