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On 27 August 2024, a large part of the Campania region, southern Italy, was affected by intense rainfall associated with forming local storm cells forced by orography. Three watersheds affected by wildfires some weeks before (3 and 14 August 2024) responded to rainfall with intense runoff and erosion processes supplying debris and hyperconcentrated flows downstream. In the town of San Felice a Cancello, a post-fire debris flow hit the urban fabric causing extensive damage to the road network, and the ground and basement floors of many buildings. The closest rain gauge recorded 29.2 mm in 20 min, as well as a peak intensity in 30 min of 83.6 mm/h. The highest peak intensity in 10 min was 106.8 mm/h. Landforms related to gully erosion generated by the runoff concentration were observed in the highest part of low-order channels, likely associated with rill and interrill erosion processes. A lot of sediments resulted from the incision of steep drainage channels and was carried out by turbulent flows. When hitting the urban fabric, flows poured down very fast along the roads and changed their rheology gradually along their paths downstream, transitioning from high-magnitude debris flows through to hyperconcentrated flows. Due to high sediment concentrations and human modifications of the drainage sections, the flows abandoned the natural drainage network to overwhelm roads and buildings. In the urban center of San Felice a Cancello, a vehicle with two people on board was dragged by flows for about 800 m. The vehicle was found a few hours after the accident. The two lifeless bodies were found only after long searches in a former quarry 2 km away from the impact point on 2 and 12 of September, respectively. This was the first known post-fire debris flow with fatal consequences in Italy.

The Bulambuli landslide occurred on the evening of 27 November 2024, between 7:00 and 9:00 PM, in Masugu village, Buluganya Sub-County, Bulambuli District, Eastern Uganda, at coordinates 1°12′47.88″N and 34°21′59.4″E. It was triggered by heavy and continuous rainfall that lasted from 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM. The saturated soil eventually lost stability, leading to a sudden slope failure. Human activities, such as land use changes, may have increased the area’s vulnerability. This landslide was a fast-moving flow-type landslide involving a mix of soil, rocks, and debris. The movement started in upland areas that were farmed, and grazed, and descended into residential zones, roads, and farmlands, leaving destruction along its path. Although the landslide was relatively shallow, its speed, volume, and the steepness of the terrain made it particularly destructive. This district has a known history of landslides, highlighting its ongoing exposure to such hazards. The impact on both people and infrastructure was severe. Approximately 150 people died, and 95 more were still missing by early December. Over 30,000 individuals were affected, with around 2,023 households, about 12,138 people, displaced. More than 150 homes were destroyed, and critical roads, farmland, livestock, and community infrastructure were buried under debris. Beyond the physical damage, the disaster left deep emotional and psychological wounds. Many survivors suffered from trauma, grief, and feelings of isolation especially those who lost multiple family members. One person reported losing eleven relatives. These experiences show the urgent need for comprehensive support after the disaster, including mental health care and long-term community recovery services. Source: Abdulahi, M., Egli, P., Nakakaawa-Jjunju, C., Opach, T., Bamutez, Y., Nakileza, B., & Naboth, M. (in preparation). Landslides triggered by the November 27, 2024, heavy rainfall in the Bulambuli District, Eastern Region, Uganda [Unpublished manuscript].

At 08:15 hours on 16 July 2024, a two-stage slope failure struck the northern embankment of National Highway 66 at Shirur village, Uttara Kannada, Karnataka. The first stage was a rotational slip with an arcuate failure surface about 60 m in radius, detached a soil block up to 28 m deep. According to field mapping and DEM analysis, the displaced volume is approximately 89000 m³. The base of an electric tower was crossed by the slip surface. The tower collapsed with a second small-scale slope failure due to a loss of support. Mobilised debris, a mix of silty sand, clay and scattered boulders, travelled across both lanes of the highway, burying vehicles and cutting traffic. Momentum carried the flow another 180 m into the adjoining Gangavali River, where it formed an elongate deposition bar that briefly obstructed the channel and generated a splash wave, damaging the opposite bank. The landslide took 8 lives of the people residing in the shop nearby, along with trucks and the driver who parked their vehicles in the location. Landslide was predominantly triggered by heavy rainfall (recorded value of 260mm in a neighbouring rain gauge) and anthropogenic activity like unprotected vertical cuts on the slope while widening the road.

In the last week of July 2024, the Punchirimattom region in Wayanad experienced exceptionally heavy and continuous rain- fall events, leading to two major landslides in the early hours of 30/07/2024 and a devastating debris flow that engulfed four places in the Meppadi Panchayath, namely, Punchirimattom, Mundakkai, Chooralmala, and Attamala. Over 200 buildings were washed away, and over 400 were damaged partially or fully, including two schools, one in Mundakkai and the other in Chooralmala. Three bridges were destroyed during the massive debris flow. This event has been described as one of the deadliest landslides of recent times. The loss of lives is currently reported as 251, and 47 individuals are still missing. Assessing the feasibility of continued habitation in the affected villages is crucial, given the significant debris deposited by the landslide.

At 16:10 (JST) on January 1, 2024, an intense earthquake struck the Noto Peninsula area of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) magnitude MJMA was 7.6, and the epicenter was 37.498° North and 137.242° East. The cascading effects of the Noto earthquake caused extensive damage on the Noto Peninsula, particularly in Wajima, Suzu, Noto, and Anamizu. As of 14:00 on March 26, this earthquake claimed 244 lives (15 people were reported as disaster-related deaths) and damaged 74,923 houses (Ishikawa Prefecture report, 2024). Shortly after the event, the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan mapped and published the locations of the landslides. The 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake triggered more than 2300 landslides over a wide area. Although shallow, distributed landslides were common, long-traveling landslides caused significant damage. The Ichinose landslide was in Ichinose-cho, Wajima City, Ishikawa Prefecture, about 30 km from the epicenter. The slope was gentle, as the slope angle measured was less than 20°. The Ichinose landslide is about 440 m long, 200 m wide and 50 m thick. The apparent angle calculated from the line connecting the head scarp to the toe of the landslide was 10.9°, indicating high mobility. The displaced landslide mass traveled more than 1 km and deposited on a flat rice paddy. – – – – – Source: Loi, D.H., Jayakody, S., Sassa, K. et al. Landslides triggered by the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake. Landslides 21, 2583–2590 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-024-02333-6

At 16:10 (JST) on January 1, 2024, an intense earthquake struck the Noto Peninsula area of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) magnitude MJMA was 7.6, and the epicenter was 37.498° North and 137.242° East. The cascading effects of the Noto earthquake caused extensive damage on the Noto Peninsula, particularly in Wajima, Suzu, Noto, and Anamizu. As of 14:00 on March 26, this earthquake claimed 244 lives (15 people were reported as disaster-related deaths) and damaged 74,923 houses (Ishikawa Prefecture report, 2024). Shortly after the event, the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan mapped and published the locations of the landslides. The 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake triggered more than 2300 landslides over a wide area. Although shallow, distributed landslides were common, long-traveling landslides caused significant damage. The Ichinose landslide was in Ichinose-cho, Wajima City, Ishikawa Prefecture, about 30 km from the epicenter. The slope was gentle, as the slope angle measured was less than 20°. The Ichinose landslide is about 440 m long, 200 m wide and 50 m thick. The apparent angle calculated from the line connecting the head scarp to the toe of the landslide was 10.9°, indicating high mobility. The displaced landslide mass traveled more than 1 km and deposited on a flat rice paddy. – – – – – Source: Loi, D.H., Jayakody, S., Sassa, K. et al. Landslides triggered by the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake. Landslides 21, 2583–2590 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-024-02333-6

At 16:10 (JST) on January 1, 2024, an intense earthquake struck the Noto Peninsula area of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) magnitude MJMA was 7.6, and the epicenter was 37.498° North and 137.242° East. The cascading effects of the Noto earthquake caused extensive damage on the Noto Peninsula, particularly in Wajima, Suzu, Noto, and Anamizu. As of 14:00 on March 26, this earthquake claimed 244 lives (15 people were reported as disaster-related deaths) and damaged 74,923 houses (Ishikawa Prefecture report, 2024). Shortly after the event, the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan mapped and published the locations of the landslides. The 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake triggered more than 2300 landslides over a wide area. Although shallow, distributed landslides were common, long-traveling landslides caused significant damage. The Machinomachi landslide was in Machinomachi, Wajima City, Ishikawa Prefecture, about 30 km from the epicenter. The landslide block is about 80 m long, 160 m wide, and 20 m thick. The landslide occurred on a steep slope with an inclination of about 35°, and it moved over 550 m onto the flat paddy field. The apparent angle calculated from the line connecting the head scarp to the toe of the landslide was 15.5°, indicating high mobility. – – – – – Source: Loi, D.H., Jayakody, S., Sassa, K. et al. Landslides triggered by the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake. Landslides 21, 2583–2590 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-024-02333-6

From 1 to 3 July 2021, extreme rainfall occurred in the Atami District, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan causing a catastrophic debris flow on 3 July 2021. The Atami debris flow claimed 27 lives with one missing, three injuries and destroyed 54 houses, as of 10 February 2022 (Shizuoka Prefecture 2022). On 17 January 2022, International Consortium on Landslides (ICL) researchers investigated the landslide area. A sample was taken from immediately behind the exposed scar and sent to the Kyoto ICL-SATREPS office for ring shear tests. The underlying geology of the source area is andesite to basaltic andesite lava and pyroclastic deposits, which are products of Hakone Volcano. The ring shear test and computer simulation were conducted and published in the ICL open access book. Source LS-RAPID Manual with Video Tutorials Beena Ajmera, Hossein Emami Ahari, Doan Huy Loi, Hendy Setiawan, Khang Dang & Kyoji Sassa https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-16898-7_26

Month of August experienced heavy rainfall on the Western Ghat mountain ranges of southern India in 2019 with exceptionally heavy rainfall i.e. 400% over the normal average during 5 cumulative days resulting in the devastating landslide on 8th August 2019. It was difficult to estimate the actual loss however 69 casualties, 39 completely damaged houses along with roads, utilities and other infrastructure damages were recorded during our survey. The children and adults who managed to escape their death were completely traumatised and were unable to talk. Through field and desk geoscientific investigation it was found that the mismanagement of land use, unscientific slope modification, disruption of free flow of drainage, added with huge amounts of water due to heavy rainfall leading to supersaturation of highly weathered and structurally disposed debris material overlying Archaean bedrock and toe erosion due to flooded river resulted in this landslide. Although the slide happened in a rapid way but precursory signature as cracking and rumbling sound was heard before the actual event. However people were trapped and could not go away as their escape root was flooded. The landslide happened in the northern trifurcated downslope segments as the three 1st order drainage courses carried the discharge of debris and water. The communities living in high hazard prone areas need to be prepared as a resilient community by empowering them with deployment of multi-scale early warning and risk management systems.

The landslide occurred in Val Venosta/Vinschgau Valley (Province of Bolzano, South Tyrol, Northern Italy) on the 12th of April 2010, aroun 9:03 in the morning. The event affected a natural slope that was formed as the result of the erosion produced by the flow of the Adige River on the cone of an alluvial deposit, an area of about 200 m2 in the central part of a hillside with average inclination of approximately 36° and length of 65 m. The slip surface (approximate length 20 m, width from 8 to 12 m) was located about 1.0 m below the slope profile, in the uppermost layers of a predominantly coarse, well-graded soil (see photo). The event was triggered by an accidental and extraordinary infiltration of water from a malfunctioning component of an irrigation system located on the uphill almost flat area (see plan). Although the slope appeared to be uniformly covered with vegetation, the landslide apparently occurred in an area where there were no trees. After the occurrence of the event, a number of activities were performed to characterize the area (before this report authors’ involvement). Samples collected from the slope near the slip surface show the different composition of the soil cover (30% silt, 35% sand, 30% gravel, Plasticity Index Ip = 2–6%) from the lower alluvial deposit (15% silt, 20% sand, 65% gravel and cobbles). Although the landslide dimensions were small, its consequences were catastrophic because it caused the loss of nine lives and the injury of 28 people, and it significantly damaged the local railway infrastructure.