Earthquakes and rainfalls to increase landslides in Nepal!

Nepal is a country within the Himalayan mountain range. This nation experiences landslides every year because of it’s annual monsoon season. The monsoon season occurs between June and August. 

If you don’t know what a landslide is, a landslide is when a big chunk of rock breaks off a mountain and falls down. Landslides are known to break roads and kill many people. Researchers show that the rainfall and the earthquakes in Nepal caused an increase in the percentage of landslides. 

Earthquakes usually cause landslides because when the earth shakes rapidly, the mountain breaks, and a landslide is triggered. Scientists by analyzing satellite images and rainfall data established a pattern about the amount of land sliding over a 30 year period between 1988 and 2018. This revealed that cloud storms cause 4x as many landslides as expected in an average monsoon season. In 2015 the Gorkha earthquake caused around 6 times as much rainfall triggered landslides. So in summary, landslides in Nepal are caused by earthquakes and monsoons every year.

This study was conducted by researchers from the University of East Anglia, University of Plymouth, University of Exeter, and international engineering consultancy firm, AECOM

Please do make the earth a better place to live for future generations to come!!!

By Sri Nihal Tammana