AI Insight
In June 2026, 48 fatal landslides caused 131 fatalities globally, continuing an atypical temporal pattern where spring months exceeded early summer totals contrary to normal seasonal expectations. The cumulative fatal landslide count for 2026 through June substantially exceeds the long-term mean and approaches levels seen in the exceptional year of 2024, though with different monthly distribution. The unusually low June count compared to February and March suggests abnormal rainfall patterns requiring further investigation.
Why it matters
Understanding deviations from typical seasonal landslide patterns can improve early warning systems and help identify changing environmental conditions, potentially linked to climate variability. The elevated 2026 fatality rates highlight ongoing risks to vulnerable populations, particularly as the Northern Hemisphere monsoon season begins.
Understand the Science
In June 2026 I recorded 48 fatal landslides causing 131 fatalities. 2026 continues to be atypical in terms of the temporal pattern of fatal landslides.
This is my regular update for the number of fatal global landslides, focusing on June 2026. As usual, this data has been collected in line with the methodology described in Froude and Petley (2018) and in Petley (2012). References are listed below – please cite these articles if you use this analysis. Data presented in these updates should be treated as being provisional at this stage as I will reanalyse them prior to formal publication, and other events will emerge.
Note that this data excludes landslides triggered by earthquakes.
The headline figures are as follows:
June 2026: 48 fatal landslides causing 131 fatalities.
This is the number of landslides by month in 2026 to the end of June:-
Last month I once again noted that 2026 was proving to be atypical in terms of the pattern of fatal landslides. This has continued through June, with the total number recorded in this month once again being lower than for both February and March. It is surprising that the June total is lower than that of May, as well. We would normally expect to see the monthly landslide total increasing from April through to July. This may indicate that patterns of rainfall this year are varying from the norm. More research is needed.
My preferred way of presenting this data us to use the cumulative total by pentad. This graph is to pentad 30, which captures all of the June data:-
The shows that the number of fatal landslides in 2026 continues to run way ahead of the long term mean, and within noise was equivalent to the exceptional year of 2024 (albeit with a different temporal pattern).
The end of June marks the start of the Northern Hemisphere monsoon season, and the uptick in the number of recorded landslides is clear in the graph. It will be interesting to see the July data as the monsoon gets into full swing.
I hope to be able to produce the July 2026 data next week.
References
Froude, M. and Petley, D.N. 2018. Global fatal landslide occurrence from 2004 to 2016. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences 18, 2161-2181.
Petley, D.N. 2012. Global patterns of loss of life from landslides. Geology 40 (10), 927-930.
Text © 2026. The authors. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
Except where otherwise noted, images are subject to copyright. Any reuse without express permission from the copyright owner is prohibited.
Source: Fatal landslides in June 2026