Two killed by landslid in Uttarakhand State, India.

Two people have been killed and three others injured in a landslide which hit a trekking route to the Kedarnath Temple in Uttarakhand State, India, on Wednesday 18 June 2025. The incident happened at about 11.20 am local time, when rocks fell onto the path, knocking two palanquin operators, their female passenger and two porters into a gorge. The two deceased have been identified as Nitin Kumar, 18, and Chandrashekhar, palanquin operators from the town of Doda in Jammu and Kashmir. The two porters have been taken to a health centre in Gaurikund with serious injuries, while the woman escaped with minor injuries.

Rescue workers descending into a gorge near the Kedarnath Temple in Uttarakhand to search for survivors, following a landslide on Wednesday 18 June 2025. Press Trust of India.

The palanquin bearers were reportedly hit while attempting to cross a debris field left by another landslide earlier in the week, in which another person was killed. Local press reports have suggested that they may have been inexperienced in the role. palanquins were formerly a common way for wealthier pilgrims to reach the Kedarnath Temple, but this has become less popular following the introduction of a helicopter service. However, this helicopter service has been suspended following a crash earlier this pilgrimage season, leading local entrepreneurs to resume palanquin services, often using inexperienced labourers as bearers.

Labourers removing debris from a path leading to the Kedarnath Temple in Uttarakhand following a landslide on Monday 16 June 2025.Press Trust of India.

The landslides appear to have been triggered by heavy rain associated with the annual monsoon. Landslides are a common problem after severe weather events, as excess pore water pressure can overcome cohesion in soil and sediments, allowing them to flow like liquids. Approximately 90% of all landslides are caused by heavy rainfall.

Monsoons are tropical sea breezes triggered by heating of the land during the warmer part of the year (summer). Both the land and sea are warmed by the Sun, but the land has a lower ability to absorb heat, radiating it back so that the air above landmasses becomes significantly warmer than that over the sea, causing the air above the land to rise and drawing in water from over the sea; since this has also been warmed it carries a high evaporated water content, and brings with it heavy rainfall. In the tropical dry season the situation is reversed, as the air over the land cools more rapidly with the seasons, leading to warmer air over the sea, and thus breezes moving from the shore to the sea (where air is rising more rapidly) and a drying of the climate. This situation is particularly intense in South Asia, due to the presence of the Himalayas. High mountain ranges tend to force winds hitting them upwards, which amplifies the South Asian Summer Monsoon, with higher winds leading to more upward air movement, thus drawing in further air from the sea.

Diagrammatic representation of wind and rainfall patterns in a tropical monsoon climate. Geosciences/University of Arizona.

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Ten miners confirmed dead, and a further ten missing following landslide in West Papua Province, Indonesia.

The bodies of ten miners have been recovered, and further ten are missing, following a landslide in the remote Arfak Mountains of West Papua Province, Indonesia, following a landslide on Friday16 may 2025. The landslide, which occurred at about 9.00pm, and is believed to have been triggered by heavy rains associated with the onset of the southwest monsoon, and struck a camp being used by artisanal gold miners. A further four miners were injured by the event, and rescue efforts are being hampered by the remote location of the site, which is ten hours travel from the nearest town, and ongoing heavy rains in the area.

Rescue workers battling floodwaters while recovering a body from a mining camp hit by a landslide in the emote Arfak Mountains of West Papua Province, Indonesia, on 16 May 2025. Indonesia Search and Rescue Agency/AFP).

Indonesia's large size, mineral richness, and poor population make unlicensed mining a widespread problem in the country, with illegal mines typically dug with hand tools and located in remote locations where authorities are unlikely to spot them (though some such operations are larger and more blatant in nature). Such mines tend to take few health and safety precautions, and are often dug by people with only a limited understanding of the structural geology of the area, making accidents extremely common, in many cases without help ever arriving due to the hidden nature of the mines. Such mines also present an environmental threat, producing waste which is often toxic, and contributing to deforestation, which can destabilise hillslopes, placing the miners at further risk.

Monsoons are tropical sea breezes triggered by heating of the land during the warmer part of the year (summer). Both the land and sea are warmed by the Sun, but the land has a lower ability to absorb heat, radiating it back so that the air above landmasses becomes significantly warmer than that over the sea, causing the air above the land to rise and drawing in water from over the sea; since this has also been warmed it carries a high evaporated water content, and brings with it heavy rainfall. In the tropical dry seasons, the situation is reversed, as the air over the land cools more rapidly with the seasons, leading to warmer air over the sea, and thus breezes moving from the shore to the sea (where air is rising more rapidly) and a drying of the climate.

Diagrammatic representation of wind and rainfall patterns in a tropical monsoon climate. Geosciences/University of Arizona.

West Papua has two distinct Monsoon Seasons, with a Northeast Monsoon driven by winds from the South China Sea that lasts from November to February and a Southwest Monsoon driven by winds from the southern Indian Ocean from March to October. Such a double Monsoon Season is common close to the equator, where the Sun is highest overhead around the equinoxes and lowest on the horizons around the solstices, making the solstices the coolest part of the year and the equinoxes the hottest.

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Two-year-old girl killed by landslide in Catbalogan City on Samar Island, Philippines.

A two-year-old girl has been killed and three other people have been injured after a landslide destroyed a house in the Barangay Basiao area of Catbalogan City on Samar Island, Philippines. The incident happened late in the evening of Sunday 29 December 2024, following several days of rain in the area.  Landslides are a common problem after severe weather events, as excess pore water pressure can overcome cohesion in soil and sediments, allowing them to flow like liquids. Approximately 90% of all landslides are caused by heavy rainfall. The three people injured are described as  35-year-old man, a 30-year-old-woman, and a baby girl, who were members of the family living in the house. A neighbouring house was also damaged in the incident.

The remains of a house destroyed by a landslide in Catbalogan City on 29 December 2024. RPN DYKC Cebu.

Residents of nearby homes have been evacuated while the situation is assessed, and local government units are also carrying out assessments, and where necessary further evacuations, in other areas which may be at risk of landslips. Much of the island of Samar is currently suffering froom flooding, associated with the Northern Monsoon.

Monsoons are tropical sea breezes triggered by heating of the land during the warmer part of the year (summer). Both the land and sea are warmed by the Sun, but the land has a lower ability to absorb heat, radiating it back so that the air above landmasses becomes significantly warmer than that over the sea, causing the air above the land to rise and drawing in water from over the sea; since this has also been warmed it carries a high evaporated water content, and brings with it heavy rainfall. In the tropical dry season the situation is reversed, as the air over the land cools more rapidly with the seasons, leading to warmer air over the sea, and thus breezes moving from the shore to the sea (where air is rising more rapidly) and a drying of the climate.

Diagrammatic representation of wind and rainfall patterns in a tropical monsoon climate. Geosciences/University of Arizona.

Southeast Asia has two distinct Monsoon Seasons, with a Northeast Monsoon driven by winds from  the South China Sea during the Southern Hemisphere Summer and a Southwest Monsoon driven by winds from the southern Indian Ocean in the Northern Hemisphere Summer. Such a double Monsoon Season is common close to the equator, where the Sun is highest overhead around the equinoxes and lowest on the horizons around the solstices, making the solstices the coolest part of the year and the equinoxes the hottest.

The winds that drive the Northeast and Southwest Monsoons in Southeast Asia. Mynewshub.

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Tylototriton soimalai: A new species of Crocodile Newt from Tak Province, northwestern Thailand.

Salamanders of the genus Tylototriton, known as Crocodile Newts for the scale-like knobbly protuberances on their skin, are found across the Himalayan Region, Southeast Asia, and South and Central China. There are currently 40 described species, most of which are highly endemic (have very limited distributions), with several known undescribed species in Southeast Asia. There are currently six described species from Thailand, Tylototriton verrucosus,   Tylototriton uyenoi, Tylototriton anguliceps, Tylototriton phukhaensis, Tylototriton umphangensis, and Tylototriton panhai, five of which have been described since 2013. 

In a paper published in the journal ZooKeys on 15 October 2024, Porrawee Pomchote of the Department of Biology at Chulalongkorn University, Parada Peerachidacho of the Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia at Mahidol University, Wichase Khonsue also of the Department of Biology at Chulalongkorn University, Pitak Sapewisut of the Department of Biology at Chiang Mai University, Axel Hernandez of the College of Biology & the Environment at Nanjing Forestry University and the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University Pasquale Paoli of Corsica, Chitchol Phalaraksh, also of the Department of Biology at Chiang Mai University, Parunchai Siriput of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, and Kanto Nishikawa of the Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies and Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies at Kyoto University, describe a new species of Crocodile Newt from Mae Tuen Wildlife Sanctuary in Tak Province, northwestern Thailand.

In July 2014, Axel Hernandez discovered a male Crocodile Newt in a muddy pond in the middle of a Dipterocarp and mixed deciduous forest close to the top of Doi Soi Malai (Mount Soi Malai), about 1500 m above sealevel. He initially assigned this to Tylototriton uyenoi, a species which had been described the previous year from the same area. However, subsequent examination of the specimen showed that it differed from Tylototriton uyenoi in a number of ways. In 2015 the Tourism Authority of Thailand published a video clip on the MGR Online platform showing Crocodile Newts at the same location. This led to a field study of the area in August 2022, during which three adult male Crocodile Newts and two tadpoles were discovered in a muddy puddle in a road on Doi Soi Malai, again at about 1500 m above sealevel.

Pomchote et al. carried out both genetic and morphological analysis of the Doi Soi Malai specimens, both of which led them to conclude that they were representatives of a new species. This is named Tylototriton soimalai, in reference to the location where it was discovered, Doi Soi Malai.

The male holotype of Tylototriton soimalai (CUMZ-A-8253) observed at the type locality. Pomchote et al. (2024).

The known specimens of Tylototriton soimalai are medium-sized Crocodile Newts, ranging from 90.7 mm to 109.3 mm in length, with and are black in colour (dark grey on the underside), with two orange ridges on either side of the dorsal surface of the skull, behind which are two rows of orange nodules which follow the length of the body, but not the tail, while a third, solid orange ridge follows the length of the spine, including the tail.

The two tadpoles vary in size, with one roughly double the size of the other, despite being found at the same time. In both, the head is large with visible eyes, and three pairs of reddish-brown external gills.  The tadpoles are pale brown in colour with scattered black markings, and purple-silver markings around the eyes and fin, and on the flanks.

The two larvae of Tylototriton soimalai in life. Pomchote et al. (2024).

All of the specimens were found in a muddy puddle roughly 10 m long and 5 m wide, with a maximum depth of about 35 cm. They were found at about midday on 31 August 2022, which is in the rainy season; this is presumed to be the breeding season of the Newts. The puddle is located on a road running over Doi Soi Malai, with the exact location not given to protect the species from illegal collection.

Pomchote et al. note that the road is extensively used by mountain bike and four-wheel-drive enthusiasts, particularly during the monsoon season, despite these activities being banned in national parks and wildlife sanctuaries in Thailand by the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation. For this reason, Pomchote et al. recommend that the road should be closed off completely during the monsoon season, remaining open to hikers during the dry and winter seasons. They also note that the environment both within and around the Mae Tuen Wildlife Sanctuary has been degraded by deforestation and fragmentation for agricultural use, primarily cabbage farming. They therefore recommend that Tylototriton soimalai be listed as Endangered under the terms of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species. 

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At least 148 dead amid flooding and landslides in Nepal.

At least 148 people have died and more than fifty are still missing in a series of flood and landslide events which hit Nepal driven by heavy rains which have fallen across the country since Friday 27 September 2024. The worst of the flooding has occurred in the densely populated Kathmandu Valley in the central part of the country, where 322 mm of rain fell within 24 hours between Friday and Saturday mornings, the largest amount of rain ever recorded within 24 hours in Nepal.

Flooding on the Bagmati River in Kathmandu on Saturday 28 September 2024. Anadolu Ajansi/Getty Images.

Thirty four people are known have died in Kathmandu, and at least 35 more in a series of landslides on the Prithvi Highway, outside the city, which buried two busses and several other vehicles. In the city Bhaktapur, 15 km to the east of Kathmandu, five people, including a pregnant woman and a four-year-old girl died when a house collapsed, and six people died when a landslide hit the All Nepal Football Association's training centre in Makwanpur. 

Flooding in Lalitpur, to the south of Kathmandu, on 28 September 2024. Gopen Rai/Nepal Times.

The annual monsoon in Nepal claims a large number of lives each year, with at least 170 known to have died this year between the onset of the monsoon season in June and the onset of Friday's rains. However, this rainfall typically ends towards the middle of September. This year's extended monsoon is thought to have been caused by a low pressure system over India, in turn caused by this year's exceptionally high global temperatures. Late rains such as these bring with them additional problems, as by September the ground in lowlying areas of Nepal is often waterlogged, and the waters rivers and lakes high, if not actually overflowing. This means that even if the rains stop soon, their effects are likely to be felt for some time yet, with the waters in the Koshi River recorded as running at a rate of over 12 700  cubic metres per second, compared to a seasonal average of 4200 cubic metres per second. Such high flow rates on the Koshi River almost invariably lead to significant flood events in Bihar State, India.

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