Quake-hit Nepal at high risk of landslides in coming weeks: Research

Washington: The threat of landslides and mudslides remains high in the earthquake-hit Nepal in the coming weeks, and the risk is likely to increase when the monsoon rains arrive this summer, scientists have warned.

The region at highest risk for landslides and mudslides is the mountainous area along the Nepal-Tibet border, north of Kathmandu and west of Mount Everest, directly above the fault rupture, according to researchers at the University of Michigan (U-M).

U-M geomorphologist Marin Clark and two colleagues have assessed the landslide hazard in Nepal following Saturday’s magnitude-7.9 earthquake.

They looked for locations where landslides likely occurred during the earthquake, as well as places that are at high risk in the coming weeks and months.

The analysis found tens of thousands of locations at high risk, Clark said.

“The majority of them, we expect, have already happened and came down all at once with the shaking on Saturday,” she added.

But there would still be slopes that had not yet failed but were weakened. So there would be a continued risk during aftershocks and with the recent rainfall, and again when the monsoon rains arrive this summer, cited Clark.

Information from the U-M-led study is being used to help prioritise both satellite observations and the analysis of data from those satellites, urged Clark, an associate professor in the U-M Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.