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The Himalayan Arc is the global hotspot for landslide worldwide.  The majority of landslides are triggered by monsoon rainfall, and as I write the monsoon front is arriving in the landslide-prone middle hills region of eastern Nepal.  There is a desperate paucity of research into landslides in the Himalayas, despite there being some very talented landslide experts in this region, primarily because of the lack of international focus on the problem, and of course the resultant lack of funding.  Thus, it is very pleasing to see the formation of the Himalayan Landslide Society, with the following aims:

1. To advocate and foster landslide disaster reduction and environmental protection through the development of externally funded programs.
2. To coordinate and integrate landslide and environmental research in the Himalayan Region.
3. To  conduct  post-event  investigations  of  destructive  landslides  involving  loss  of  life  and property in order to learn lessons for future risk reduction; to plan regular field visit programs.
4. To  regularly  organize  discussion  forums  and  scientific  meetings  including  conferences, seminars and workshops. The aim will be to organize an annual or biannual international conference to discuss the research findings and set future research goals.
5. To foster and encourage the acquisition of skills for landslide hazard mitigation and risk reduction among stakeholders.

One of the first activities of the Society will be to organise the 11th International Symposium on Mitigation of Geo-Disasters in Asia, which will be held in Nepal from 22nd to 27th November 2013.  This has a really interesting schedule:

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These are the key dates:

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Nepal is a wonderful country, with an extraordinary range of landslides.  I intend to try to go to this meeting I hope to see you there!