India witnessed the highest number of natural disasters in 2024-25 among countries in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region, according to a recently released global report that linked the events to climate change.

The report prepared by the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) stated that 42, or nearly 36 per cent of the 115 natural disasters in the HKH region in 2024-25, occurred in India.

The ICIMOD has eight regional member countries — Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan.

“Recent years show how floods, landslides and other hazards are increasingly overlapping in mountain regions, amplifying damage to homes, infrastructure and essential services,” Pema Gyamtsho, director-general at the ICIMOD, told The Telegraph.

“Several studies clearly showed how the fallout of climate change has affected the area, with the melting of glaciers nearly doubling in the last 25 years. The trend of disaster incidents is a telltale outcome of climatic impacts,” said an expert linked to the study.

The report stated that Asia accounted for a significant share of global environmental disasters in 2024-25, with the HKH region making up a sizeable part of it.

“…Most of the damage (was) caused by water-related hazards such as floods, landslides and storms. Water-related hazards continued with rainfall-induced repeated flooding and landslides across several HKH countries, including Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan,” the report said. Other hazards, such as glacial lake outburst floods, were also reported in select locations.

“Across the region, about 1.2 million people were displaced or directly affected by disasters during the year,” the report added.

A closer look at the list shows that nearly 9.5 million people were affected by floods and landslides in Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Kashmir, Bengal, Manipur and Tripura.

Floods were the most impactful disaster driver, with flash floods in Assam and Meghalaya in 2024 affecting 2.1 million. This was followed by the rain and floods in Uttar Pradesh in July 2024, which affected 1.8 million, and the August 2024 flash flood in Tripura that impacted another 1.7 million. The deluge in Assam and almost throughout the Northeast in May 2025 impacted nearly 1.45 million.

In terms of mortality, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand were the worst hit with floods and landslides killing 245 in June 2024, followed by at least 100 deaths in four incidents of flash floods and cloudbursts during 2024-25.

The report stated that the HKH region was home to 10 large Asian river systems, including the Indus, Ganges and the Brahmaputra that flow through India. They provide water and form the basis of the livelihoods of a population of about 240 million across the region and are vulnerable to climate impacts, it said.

“The increasing disasters have led to warnings of multi-hazard events, which occur when more than one type of hazard, such as floods, landslides, or droughts, happen simultaneously or when one disaster triggers another,” the report said.