Landslide Risk Map: 12,948 Events Across 156 Countries

Interactive landslide risk map powered by NASA COOLR data. Filter by category and timeline to explore global landslide hotspots.
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Global Landslide Risk Map
12,948 events from NASA COOLR (2000-2020)
12,948Events
39,599Fatalities
156Countries
Category
Timeline 2000 – 2020
2000200520102015202025+
Heatmap shows landslide event density. Data: NASA COOLR.
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Country Category Trigger Date Deaths Size Location
India Landslide Downpour Jul 12, 2023 47 Large Shimla, Himachal Pradesh
Philippines Mudslide Tropical cyclone Nov 8, 2022 23 Medium Southern Leyte
Colombia Debris flow Heavy rain Apr 1, 2022 15 Large Rosas, Cauca
Nepal Landslide Monsoon Aug 14, 2021 32 Very large Sindhupalchok
Myanmar Landslide Continuous rain Jul 2, 2020 162 Catastrophic Hpakant, Kachin
Brazil Mudslide Downpour Feb 16, 2022 233 Large Petropolis, Rio de Janeiro
Indonesia Landslide Rain Jan 4, 2021 28 Medium Sumedang, West Java
China Rock fall Earthquake Sep 5, 2022 65 Very large Luding, Sichuan
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Top countries at risk of landslides (2000–2020)

The top 6 countries account for 62.6% of recorded events; the top 15 cover 78.9%.

The United States records the most landslide events in the global catalog, but doesn’t appear in the top 15 by deaths. Where landslides happen and where they kill aren’t the same map.

By event count
# Country Events Share
1 United States 3,928 30.4%
2 India 1,735 13.4%
3 Philippines 776 6.0%
4 Nepal 587 4.5%
5 China 574 4.4%
6 Colombia 500 3.9%
7 Indonesia 430 3.3%
8 United Kingdom 309 2.4%
9 Canada 301 2.3%
10 Malaysia 235 1.8%
11 Brazil 229 1.8%
12 Pakistan 188 1.5%
13 New Zealand 158 1.2%
14 Vietnam 140 1.1%
15 Australia 126 1.0%
By fatalities
# Country Fatalities Share Events Avg/event
1 India 7,620 19.3% 1,735 4.39
2 China 5,750 14.5% 574 10.02
3 Philippines 4,595 11.6% 776 5.92
4 Indonesia 4,073 10.3% 430 9.47
5 Afghanistan1 2,345 5.9% 17 137.94
6 Brazil 1,797 4.5% 229 7.85
7 Nepal 1,584 4.0% 587 2.70
8 Sierra Leone1 1,181 3.0% 8 147.62
9 Colombia 1,035 2.6% 500 2.07
10 Bangladesh 855 2.2% 92 9.29
11 Uganda 771 1.9% 94 8.20
12 Guatemala 771 1.9% 90 8.57
13 Pakistan 755 1.9% 188 4.02
14 Myanmar 614 1.6% 56 10.96
15 Congo DRC 491 1.2% 73 6.73

1 Country fatality total dominated by a single catastrophic event: Afghanistan (Abi Barik 2014, 2,100 deaths, 89% of country total) and Sierra Leone (Freetown 2017, 1,141 deaths, 97% of country total).

How It Works

1
Explore the Heatmap
Interact with the NASA COOLR landslide dataset. Filter by event category and timeline to identify regional hotspots.
2
Identify Risk Zones
Zoom into regions of interest. The heatmap visualizes event density across 156 countries, revealing concentration patterns.
3
Get Detailed Analysis
Sign up to access individual event records, site-specific proximity reports, and 12-hazard climate risk assessments.

About the NASA COOLR Landslide Database

NASA’s Cooperative Open Online Landslide Repository (COOLR) is a global open-data project maintained by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center as part of the Global Precipitation Measurement mission. The database compiles landslide reports from published scientific literature, citizen science contributions, media reports, and government agencies into a single georeferenced dataset.

This landslide risk map visualizes 12,948 reports spanning 2000 to 2020. Each record includes the event’s geographic coordinates, landslide category (such as landslide, mudslide, rock fall, or debris flow), and year of occurrence. The full COOLR dataset contains additional fields including fatality counts, event triggers, size classification, and source documentation. These detailed fields are available through a free Continuuiti account.

Landslide events cluster heavily in regions where steep terrain meets high rainfall: the Himalayan arc (Nepal, India, Pakistan), Southeast Asia (Philippines, Indonesia), and tropical Latin America (Colombia, Brazil, Peru). Understanding these patterns is critical for physical risk assessment across infrastructure, real estate, and supply chain operations. For deeper analysis of what drives these events, see our guide to landslide causes and risk factors.

How Landslide Risk Relates to Climate Change

Rising global temperatures intensify the water cycle. IPCC AR6 projects that extreme precipitation events will become more frequent and severe under all warming scenarios, with the strongest increases in tropical and mountainous regions where landslide risk is already concentrated. The relationship between rainfall intensity and slope failure explains why certain regions appear as persistent hotspots on this landslide hazard map.

As precipitation patterns shift, slopes that were historically stable face new failure thresholds. Historical landslide data becomes not just a record of the past, but a baseline for projecting where risk is increasing. Climate risk modeling frameworks combine hazard event data with terrain, soil, and precipitation projections to estimate future exposure. Continuuiti’s climate risk platform evaluates landslide as one of 12 physical hazards for any location worldwide, combining terrain analysis with downscaled climate projections across multiple scenarios and time horizons to 2050.

What triggers landslides, and what makes them deadly

Three rainfall categories trigger 73% of the world’s landslides. But earthquakes, at less than 1% of events, kill 25 people on average when they do strike: rare but lethal.

Trigger Events % of events Fatalities % of deaths Avg/event
Downpour 4,912 37.9% 18,743 47.3% 3.82
Tropical cyclone 615 4.7% 5,449 13.8% 8.86
Rain 3,070 23.7% 4,752 12.0% 1.55
Continuous rain 884 6.8% 3,725 9.4% 4.21
Earthquake 110 0.8% 2,758 7.0% 25.07
Unknown 2,465 19.0% 1,191 3.0% 0.48
Monsoon 157 1.2% 905 2.3% 5.76
Mining 119 0.9% 603 1.5% 5.07
Snowfall / snowmelt 168 1.3% 538 1.4% 3.20
Dam / embankment collapse 20 0.2% 358 0.9% 17.90
Flooding 102 0.8% 315 0.8% 3.09
Construction 119 0.9% 188 0.5% 1.58
Freeze-thaw 46 0.4% 26 0.1% 0.57
No apparent trigger 82 0.6% 20 0.1% 0.24

For the underlying mechanisms behind these triggers, see our guide to landslide causes and risk factors.

The deadliest landslide events on record

These 15 events killed 18,403 people, roughly half of all recorded landslide deaths over two decades, in 0.1% of recorded events.

# Date Country Deaths Trigger Event
1 16 Jun 2013 India 5,000 Downpour Kedarnath shrine, Uttarakhand
2 02 May 2014 Afghanistan 2,100 Continuous rain Abi Barik village, Badakhshan
3 28 Sep 2018 Indonesia 2,000 Earthquake Sulawesi earthquake landslide
4 07 Aug 2010 China 1,765 Downpour Zhugqu / Bailong River, Gansu
5 29 Nov 2006 Philippines 1,200 Tropical cyclone Typhoon Reming landslide
6 30 Nov 2006 Philippines 1,200 Tropical cyclone 2006 Mayon Volcano lahar
7 14 Aug 2017 Sierra Leone 1,141 Downpour Freetown mudslide
8 10 Aug 2009 China 491 Tropical cyclone Shiaolin village, Kaohsiung
9 04 Dec 2012 Philippines 430 Tropical cyclone New Bataan, Compostela Valley
10 12 Jan 2011 Brazil 424 Downpour Teresópolis
11 01 Mar 2010 Uganda 388 Downpour Bukalasi sub-county
12 12 Jan 2011 Brazil 378 Downpour Nova Friburgo
13 01 Apr 2017 Colombia 329 Downpour Mocoa landslide
14 01 Oct 2015 Guatemala 280 Rain El Cambray
15 08 Sep 2008 China 277 Dam / embankment collapse Taoshi, Shanxi

Data source: NASA Cooperative Open Online Landslide Repository (COOLR), Global Landslide Catalog. Filtered to events 2000 to 2020 with verified coordinates. n = 12,948 events across 156 countries. Reporting note: COOLR aggregates published reports, citizen science, and media sources, which biases coverage toward English-language and US-heavy reporting; country-level event counts reflect reporting intensity as well as actual landslide frequency. Fatality counts are recorded for ~22% of events; totals here represent confirmed deaths only and underestimate true global mortality.

Landslide Data Coverage

The landslide risk map includes 15 event categories from the NASA COOLR database. Here is the breakdown of the 12,948 events by category:

Category Events Share
Landslide 8,441 65.2%
Mudslide 2,408 18.6%
Rock Fall 897 6.9%
Debris Flow 272 2.1%
Complex 252 1.9%
Rotational Slide 188 1.5%
Other / Unknown 322 2.5%
Translational Slide 52 0.4%
Riverbank Collapse 44 0.3%
Snow Avalanche, Lahar, Creep, Topple, Earth Flow 72 0.6%

Peak recording years were 2010 (1,598 events), 2017 (1,461 events), and 2015 (1,387 events), reflecting the active curation period of the NASA Global Landslide Catalog.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a landslide hazard map?›
A landslide hazard map shows the geographic distribution of landslide events or susceptibility zones. This interactive landslide risk map visualizes 12,948 historical events from NASA’s COOLR database, showing event density as a heatmap across 156 countries. Hazard maps are used by engineers, insurers, and risk managers to identify areas prone to slope failure.
What areas are most at risk for landslides?›
Regions where steep terrain meets heavy rainfall carry the highest landslide risk. The Himalayan arc (Nepal, India, Pakistan) consistently records the most events, followed by Southeast Asia (Philippines, Indonesia, Myanmar) and tropical Latin America (Colombia, Brazil, Peru). Volcanic regions and earthquake-prone areas also face elevated risk.
What are the three main triggers of landslides?›
Rainfall is the dominant trigger, causing slope saturation and failure. Earthquakes destabilize terrain through ground shaking. Human activity, including deforestation, road construction, and mining, removes natural slope support and is an increasingly common trigger. Secondary triggers include snowmelt, volcanic activity, and coastal erosion.
Which US state has the most landslides?›
California, Washington, and Oregon experience the most landslides in the United States, driven by steep coastal terrain, heavy winter rainfall, and seismic activity. West Virginia and the Appalachian region also rank high due to clay-rich soils and steep hillsides. USGS estimates that landslides cause $3.5 billion in damage annually across the US.
How is landslide risk connected to climate change?›
Warming temperatures intensify the global water cycle, increasing the frequency and severity of extreme rainfall events. IPCC AR6 projects that heavy precipitation will become more common under all warming scenarios, particularly in tropical and mountainous regions where landslide risk is already concentrated. Historical landslide data may underestimate future risk as precipitation patterns shift.
Can I assess landslide risk for a specific property or site?›
Yes. Continuuiti’s climate risk platform evaluates landslide as one of 12 physical hazards for any coordinate worldwide. Assessments include terrain analysis, climate projections under multiple scenarios (SSP2-4.5, SSP5-8.5), and risk scoring across time horizons to 2050. Create a free account to access site-specific analysis.