The Araniko Highway is the main route that links Nepal with Tibet. In the wake of the recent earthquake it is facing major landslide problems in the monsoon

In a paper (Petley et al. 2007), we looked at spatial and temporal patterns of landslides in Nepal. The results highlight the threat posed by the SW monsoon in the earthquake affected areas

Monsoon 2014 in South Asia is late this year, but the 16 landslide deaths overnight in Nepal suggest that it is now having an impact.

Exceptional monsoon rainfall across Central China has caused very extensive damage, including many landslides, in the areas affected by the 2008 earthquake

Early monsoon rainfall in northern India and Nepal has induced landslides and floods that have inflicted a high cost on the local population

Three landslides in Nepal yesterday claimed 20 lives

A review of the 2012 monsoon season to date for South Asia. Monsoon rainfall is very weak, leading to an unusually low number of landslides so far.

The true magnitude of the disaster in Pakistan is now becoming clear – this appears to be the country’s equivalent of Hurricane Katrina.  It has to be hoped that lessons are learnt both within the country and by the international community in terms of disaster risk reduction there. In 2007 the World Health Organisation produced a flood potential map for Pakistan, which I reproduce below: The flood wave is travelling …

Although it has received scant attention in the west, China is currently undergoing a classic slow-burn weather disaster associated with exceptional rainfall.  The scale is remarkable – Xinhua reports that since 1st July, 273 people have been killed and 218 people are missing, 3 million people have been displaced from their homes and 58 million people have been affected directly.  Economic losses are estimated to be about US$8.6 billion.  This …

Regular readers will know that Nepal is country in which I have a particular interest. The landslides there are dominated by the very strong monsoonal signal seen in the summer months. Usually by late September the monsoon is fading and normal life resumes. Not this year, which has seen a sudden late burst of rainfall in the west of the country. The map below shows the TRMM data for the …