The Landslide Blog is written by Dave Petley, who is widely recognized as a world leader in the study and management of landslides.
On 26 to 28 September 2024, Nepal was struck by exceptional late monsoon rainfall, inducing landslides and flooding across a wide swathe of the country. The rescue operation is still ongoing, but news reports indicate that the official loss of life is 217 people, with a further 28 people still listed as missing. A further 142 people were injured.
Nepal has an online disaster management system, Bipad, that logs the most serious events. This is the map of landslide incidents from 26 to 28 September 2024:-
The system has recorded 143 landslides that have caused 156 fatalities, although this should be treated as being provisional at this stage. As the map shows, the worst affected area in terms of numbers of events was the Kathmandu Valley, which is the cluster in the centre right of the image, but with a significant number of events in eastern Nepal as well.
The most serious event occurred at Jhyaple Khola in Dhading to the west of Kathmandu, in which a landslide struck two buses that were stopped, late at night, on the Prithvi Highway. A total of 35 people were killed at this location. Setopati has posted a video to Youtube that includes drone footage of the location:-
Of particular interest at this site will be the source of the landslide, as shown in this view:-
The video would seem to indicate that the landslide might have started at a road on the hillslope above the Prithvi Highway. This is a closer view of the crown of the landslide:-
I have frequently highlighted the risks of poor construction practice on roads in Nepal. Sadly, we may have a clear example here.
However, this was not the only significant landslide. It will take some time to collate the full list of events, but the media reports six fatalities at a training centre operated by the All Nepal Football Association in Makwanpur and seven people missing at a landslide at Tegagaun in Sindhupalchowk district, for example.
Attention will now shift to the east, where the very slow moving Typhoon Krathon is sitting offshore southern Taiwan. It is expected to swing to the north in the coming hours, bringing exceptional rainfall to the south of Taiwan. This storm is a massive rainmaker, and the slow progress could allow very prolonged precipitation. Even before landfall, this has led to over 370 mm of rainfall to be recorded at Chunri Township in Pingtung County. Assuming that the storm follows the forecasted track, there is much more to come.
Keep a close eye on the accumulated rainfall graphs on the Central Weather Administration website, and on the Twitter account of James Reynolds (@EarthUncutTV), who is located in the southern part of the island.
