Landslides: to kill more than reported

Landslides around the world are responsible for 10 times more people dying than previously estimated, a study by a British university found. Researchers at Durham University say they calculated 32,300 people died in landslides across the globe between 2004 and 2010, a much higher figure than earlier estimates of between 3,000 and 7,000, the BBC reported Wednesday. Landslides should be considered a major world hazard, the study's lead author David Petley said. "Areas with a combination of high relief, intense rainfall, and a high population density are most likely to experience high numbers of fatal landslides," Petley said. Different data methodologies used in earlier estimates put the number of those killed during landslides at a lower figure, he said. "Other data sets tends to collect data on the basis of trigger -- hurricane or typhoon," he said "Most of the other data sets also have a higher threshold -- they only record events that kill 10 people or more, for example, but there are lots of landslides that kill relatively small numbers of people." Areas likely to experience landslides are those along the so-called Himalayan Arc -- India, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh -- as well as China, and Central and South America, the study found. The most common trigger for landslides, researchers said, is monsoon rain which brings a peak in the number of fatal landslides annually between May and October.