In August 2025, I recorded 104 fatal landslides, a record total number of landslides for August. 2025 is shaping up to be a terrible year for fatal landslides, with the cumulative total to that point being close to the highest year, in 2024. eos.org/thelandslide...

A new paper in the journal Geoarchaeology (Garcia et al, 2025) hypothesises that an earthquake-induced debris flow in about 900 AD may have played a role in the abandonment of the archaeological site at Pikillaqta in Peru. eos.org/thelandslide...

On 4 November 2025, a very large landslide in a coal waste slope at Mae Moh Mine in Thailand, causing extensive damage. It appears that the landslide was associated with very heavy rainfall. eos.org/thelandslide...

This enormous landslide occurred at the Mae Moh mine in Thailand at about 3 am on 4 November 2025. The trigger appears to have been heavy rainfall. Mae Moh is an enormous mine site at [18.3422, 99.7279]. The image was released by the operator, EGAT.

Satellite images from @Planet show the series of debris flows on 31 October 2025 at Chesongoch in Kenya, which killed about 50 people. eos.org/thelandslide...

A train has derailed near to Shap in Cumbria in northern England after it struck a landslide. Fortunately, it remained upright, so there is no loss of life. Some people have suffered minor injuries. www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cz...

Holy moly - this glacier detachment in Tajikistan is WILD. It appears that there was a large piece of glacier ice much farther down the valley from a first detachment which then got pushed by a second soon thereafter. 🧵@planet.com @davepetley.bsky.social 🧪⚒️

Some videos have emerged from Afghanistan, reportedly showing landslides and rockfalls triggered by the M=6.3 earthquake early this morning. The road between Mazar and Kabul is reportedly blocked, which will impact the delivery of emergency assistance. eos.org/thelandslide...

Seriously? #pusb

On 31 October 2025, a landslide occurred at Kukas in Enga Province, Papua New Guinea, triggered by heavy rainfall at about 2 am. Reports indicate that at least 22 people were killed. This image, from Facebook, suggests that it occurred in a steep gully. eos.org/thelandslide...

On 22 May 2025, the 1.4 million cubic metre Qingyang landslide in Guizhou Province, China killed 19 people. A new paper in the journal Landslides (Wen et al. 2025) shows that adverse geological conditions caused the landslide, and heavy rainfall was the trigger. eos.org/thelandslide...

UTTERLY SURREAL LOW ANGLE GLACIER SLIDE!! 😮😱 On Saturday at 11:00 am, a 2 km-long, 25 m-high, and 150-200 m in width section detached off the Ismoil Somoni Glacier (Tajikistan) and slid down the gorge! 🧊🌊 asiaplustj.info/en/node/354309 📽️ via @volcaholic1

While most eyes are on Jamaica and #HurricaneMelissa, central Vietnam just received over 1m of rain (>39”) in 24 hours

Some useful tools for monitoring the evolution and behaviour of #HurricaneMelissa eos.org/thelandslide... #Melissa #Jamaica #Cuba

Excited to share that the final chapter of my PhD has been published in Science Advances. We show that large post-earthquake debris flows in Wenchuan are more frequent than expected due to the large volumes of sediment stored in channels. 🏔️ www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... #landslides

Hurricane Melissa is bearing down on Jamaica, with many areas likely to see over 500 mm of rainfall. The impacts could be extremely significant. eos.org/thelandslide... Graphic from NOAA.

It was a huge pleasure to see @mattgreencomedy.com in York last night, ably supported international podcast star the Triple-G Unit. Only Matt could discuss overheating fridges and the rhetoric of immigration in the same sentence.

I'm increasingly concerned about the potential impacts of Tropical Storm Melissa (which will become Hurricane Melissa in due course). The rainfall potential maps for parts of Jamaica are deeply worrying. Large-scale floods and landslides are likely. #Melissa #tropicalstormmelissa #hurricanemelissa

A new paper (Pedersen et al. 2026) in the journal Geomorphology describes the 10,900 years old Tupaasat rock avalanche in Greenland. This landslide had a volume that exceeded a billion cubic metres and a runout distance of 15.8 kilometres. eos.org/thelandslide...

I had a fantastic day at the NTU Clifton Campus yesterday, which included visits to academic schools and the opportunity to meet undergraduate and postgraduate students. Thanks to all those who made me so very welcome.

I recommend following @davepetley.bsky.social's blog. I've become a relative expert on how climate change is leading to more (and deadlier) landslides.

www.cnn.com/2025/10/22/c... 🧪⚒️

Failure of the landslide debris from the Matai'an rock avalanche in Taiwan allowed another barrier lake to form. This breached on 21 October 2025, generating another damaging debris flow. eos.org/thelandslide...

Today was my first day as Vice-Chancellor and President at Nottingham Trent University. Thank you to everyone who has made me so welcome. I have a day at the Brackenhurst Campus tomorrow and at the Clifton Campus on Thursday.

What a difference three years can make. On the left is the crowd at the CBS on 8 October 2022 when we lost 0-1 to Burnley. On the right is the crowd yesterday when we beat Blackburn 2-0. I'm not sure where we'll finish this season, but the progress is astonishing. #pusb

These pictures catch the start and the end of my time at the @uniofhull.bsky.social. Thank you to my colleagues, our students, the alumni community and the many friends of the University. It has been an honour and a privilege to lead such a wonderful institution.

Taroko Gorge in eastern Taiwan is blocked by a landslide that has generated a barrier lake. Overtopping is likely in the next few hours. This area was severely affected by the 3 April 2024 Mw=7.4 Hualien Earthquake. focustaiwan.tw/society/2025...

4,300 cubic kilometres! The scale of this ancient submarine landslide is hard to comprehend. Imagine a pile of rock 1 km wide and 1 km tall, extending from New York to Los Angeles. That would be a little smaller than this landslide.

Satellite images of the parts of #Mexico affected by heavy rainfall in recent days are being captured by @planet.com. This is the area around Conquextla, for example. There are many shallow landslides, some of which have combined to create channelised debris flows. This pattern is repeated widely.

An excellent new paper in the journal Landslides (Xie et al. 2025) describes a cluster of 143 landslides that was triggered by about 140 mm of rainfall, killing two people, in Pengshui County, China on 12 July 2024. Before and after images by @planet.com eos.org/thelandslide...

Reconstruction by Quiroga et al (2025) of landslides on the banks of Lake Rupanco in Chile, triggered by the 22 May 1960 Mw-9.5 earthquake, indicate that a 161 million m^3 landslide triggered a tsunami with a maximum amplitude of 33.3 m. About 120 people were killed. eos.org/thelandslide...

Calling all A level Geography teachers! Remember the Hazards conferences where experts would present up-to-date lectures on a wide range of hazards topics? They’re back, now organised by kcmconferences.co.uk! Includes locations in London, Manchester and Nottingham. Other subjects available!

Empowering Education: A UK hazards conference focusing on secondary school students and their teachers. www.kcmconferences.co.uk/events/categ... @davepetley.bsky.social @proffionatweed.bsky.social #geography #geogteacher #geogteachers #teamgeog #geographyteacher #geographyteachers #DRR

The report of the Board of Inquiry into the 14 January 2025 McCrae Landslide in Australia found that a major burst in a water main triggered the failure. The leak, which began at least 150 days before the landslide, released at least 40 million liters of water into the slope. eos.org/thelandslide...

The 17 December 2024 Takhini River landslide and river-ice tsunami in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada highlights the role of progressive failure in frozen materials. eos.org/thelandslide...

New satellite imagery from @planet.com this morning shows water overflowing the Tala Hydroelectric Power Station in Bhutan. Hard to tell from this, but appears the dam hasn't failed at this point. Unclear what the brown stuff is in the lake upstream. Logs or sediment upstream landslides perhaps? 🧪⚒️

In July 2025 I recorded 71 fatal landslides worldwide, with the loss of 214 lives. The number of fatal landslides was above the long term mean of 58.1 landslides. eos.org/thelandslide...

Very heavy rainfall across Nepal, NE. India and Bhutan has triggered landslides that have killed at least 60 people. eos.org/thelandslide...

This article about mountain and cryospheric hazards, featuring quotes from @davepetley.bsky.social @matthias-huss.bsky.social @janbeutel.bsky.social and others was published a few months ago, but is still very relevant 🧪⚒️ www.cnn.com/2025/06/07/c...

Some excellent before and after imagery is now available showing the evolution of the Matai'an landslide dam. This image has been posted to Facebook by Tony Lee. More details on my blog:- eos.org/thelandslide...

Good digital data is now being published by ASRS that presents the scale of landscape change that occurred as a result of the Matai'an landslide hazard cascade. There is also interesting information about the root causes of the vulnerability of the town of Guangfu. eos.org/thelandslide...

Today is the first meeting of the Research Plus collective, a panel discussion on the role of universities in growth and the industrial strategy.

Over the last three years, @drewbrayshaw.bsky.social, @geocron.bsky.social, me, and twelve colleagues have been compiling a Preliminary Canadian Landslide Database. Version 12 is now available and contains 25,500 entries. zenodo.org/records/1721...

Satellite images from @planet.com show the level of damage in Guangfu in the aftermath of the breach of the Matai'an landslide dam in Taiwan in typhoon #Ragasa. It is clear that a very large part of the community suffered inundation. In total, 18 people were killed and seven are still missing.

At least 15 people are known to have been killed by the debris flow and flood from the landslide dam breach that was triggered by typhoon Ragasa. Reports suggest that 15.4 million tonnes of water were released, causing 80 metres of downcutting of the landslide dam. eos.org/thelandslide...

The Matai’an landslide dam in eastern Taiwan has failed this afternoon (eos.org/thelandslide...), flooding Guangfu, about 15 km downstream focustaiwan.tw/society/2025.... Even in the middle of a typhoon, the resulting flood produced a detectable seismic signal at stations ~40 km away.

The Matai'an landslide dam breach in Taiwan during super typhoon Ragasa is now known to have killed 14 people. Some reports indicate a substantial number may still be missing (one source suggests 124 people). Understandably, the situation is quite unclear at the moment. #supertyphoonRagasa #Ragasa

The Matai'an landslide dam in Taiwan has breached today in response to extreme rainfall from super typhoon Ragasa. There is a superlative storyboard (in Mandarin) that contains details, including images and video:- storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/5864...

I have no words, never knew these photos existed!!! @davepetley.bsky.social have you seen them?

Potential extremely heavy rainfall associated with super typhoon #Ragasa could cause the Matai-an landslide dam in Taiwan to overtop in the next few days. 1,800 households have been evacuated today #typhoon #typhoonragasa eos.org/thelandslide...