The Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region witnessed a sharp escalation in disaster risks in 2025, with repeated floods, landslides and extreme weather events affecting millions across South and East Asia, according to an analysis by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) based on EM-DAT global disaster data.
The analysis found that four of the eight HKH countries experienced more than 10 major disasters during the year, underlining the growing vulnerability of mountain communities to climate-linked hazards. Economic losses across HKH countries exceeded USD 6 billion in 2024 alone, largely due to floods, storms and landslides, while 2025 continued the trend with intense monsoon-related destruction across Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan.
Globally, the EM-DAT database recorded 358 natural hazard-related disasters in 2025, causing 16,607 deaths, affecting 110.2 million people and resulting in economic losses of nearly USD 169.7 billion. Asia accounted for the largest share of both deaths and affected populations.
According to the report, floods and storms dominated disaster patterns globally, with 119 flood events and 156 storm events recorded in 2025. In the HKH region, monsoon-driven disasters emerged as a recurring threat. Pakistan alone experienced a series of devastating floods from June to September, resulting in more than 1,000 deaths and affecting nearly 6.9 million people. Northern China also faced destructive flooding by July, while Myanmar endured one of the world’s deadliest earthquakes in March, which killed at least 3,820 people and caused losses estimated at USD 11 billion. ICIMOD Director General Pema Gyamtsho said the region was increasingly witnessing ‘overlapping hazards’ that amplified destruction in fragile mountain ecosystems.
“Recent years show how floods, landslides and other hazards are increasingly overlapping in mountain regions, amplifying damages to homes, infrastructure, and essential services,” he said. Researchers linked the worsening impacts to the rise of multi-hazard events — situations where one disaster triggers another or several hazards occur simultaneously. In the HKH, this includes floods triggering landslides or glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs), which are becoming more frequent as glaciers melt under rising temperatures.
Past disasters illustrate the pattern. The 2013 Kedarnath floods in Uttarakhand killed thousands after extreme rainfall triggered flash floods and landslides. In 2023, the South Lhonak glacial lake outburst flood in Sikkim devastated downstream communities and damaged critical hydropower infrastructure. Nepal’s Melamchi floods in 2021 similarly demonstrated how mountain disasters can rapidly cascade into humanitarian crises. The EM-DAT report noted that Asia accounted for 72.8 per cent of all disaster-related deaths globally in 2025 and 74.3% of all affected people. India figured among the countries with the highest number of disasters globally in 2025, recording 16 major disaster events, according to the EM-DAT charts. The report also highlighted that three glacial lake outburst floods were recorded globally during the year, highlighting growing cryosphere-related risks.
Hydrologist Manish Shrestha said long-term data suggested some improvements in disaster preparedness despite rising climate risks. “The numbers are still worrying, but the post-2013 trend suggests fewer lives are being affected year on year, which may reflect better climate services and preparedness in parts of the region,” he said. “Sustained investment in preparedness and planning remains critical as risks continue to rise.”
ICIMOD pointed to early warning systems as one reason behind declining mortality trends in some flood-prone regions. In eastern Nepal, alerts issued through the Khando River flood early warning system in 2024 reportedly helped evacuate around 60,000 people downstream before floodwaters arrived.
The broader EM-DAT report also showed that disaster impacts in 2025 were shaped not only by sudden-onset events such as floods and earthquakes but also by slow-onset crises including droughts. Syria’s prolonged drought left 16.2 million people in need of assistance, while Somalia’s drought pushed millions into acute food insecurity.
Experts warn that climate change is intensifying both hydrological and geological hazards across the HKH, where steep terrain, fragile ecosystems and rapid infrastructure expansion increase exposure. Roads, hydropower projects and urban settlements in mountain valleys often lie directly in hazard-prone zones.
The EM-DAT report’s retrospective on Nepal’s 2015 Gorkha earthquake also stressed the long-term vulnerabilities facing mountain societies. The earthquake killed nearly 9,000 people, damaged over one million structures and exposed weaknesses in construction standards and emergency response systems. A decade later, reconstruction has improved building standards in Nepal, but many rural communities remain highly vulnerable to future disasters.
Analysts say reducing future losses in the HKH will require risk-informed investments that integrate hazard mapping and climate projections into development planning.
