Articles | Volume 26, issue 11
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-26-5507-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-26-5507-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
02 Nov 2026
Research article |
| 02 Nov 2026
| 02 Nov 2026
Unravelling information on impactful geo-hydrological hazard events with HazMiner, a multilingual text mining method developed through a global scale coverage application
Bram Valkenborg
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Cartography and GIS Research Group, Department of Geography, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, 1050, Belgium
Natural Hazards and Cartography Service, Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, 3080, Belgium
Invited contribution by Bram Valkenborg, recipient of the EGU Inter- and Transdisciplinary Sessions Outstanding Student and PhD candidate Presentation Award 2025.
Olivier Dewitte
Natural Hazards and Cartography Service, Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, 3080, Belgium
I Wayan Gita Krishna Dananjaya
Cartography and GIS Research Group, Department of Geography, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, 1050, Belgium
Benoît Smets
Cartography and GIS Research Group, Department of Geography, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, 1050, Belgium
Natural Hazards and Cartography Service, Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, 3080, Belgium
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In mountain regions, intense rainfall can trigger thousands of landslides within hours. Yet, while most efforts focus on where landslides start, the worst impacts often occur far downstream because slope material can mix with large runoffs. Studying Cyclone Idai’s impacts in eastern Zimbabwe, we found that landslide sources explain only one-fifth of total population exposure, highlighting the need to consider the full landslide–flood continuum to better protect people and plan safer landscapes.
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This research highlights the importance of human activities on the occurrence of landslides and the need to consider this context when studying hillslope instability patterns in regions under anthropogenic pressure. Also, this study highlights the importance of considering the timing of landslides and hence the added value of using historical information for compiling an inventory.
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Landslides and flash floods are rainfall-induced processes that often co-occur and interact, generally very quickly. In mountainous cloud-covered environments, determining when these processes occur remains challenging. We propose a regional methodology using open-access satellite radar images that allow for the timing of landslide and flash floods events, in the contrasting landscapes of tropical Africa, with an accuracy of up to a few days. The methodology shows potential for transferability.
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Short summary
Data gaps in datasets on floods, landslides, and flash floods influence our understanding of these hazards. We present HazMiner, a new method to extract their location, timing, and impacts from online news articles. We applied HazMiner at the global scale to 6,366,905 news articles published from 2017 through 2024. This resulted in the detection of 15,313 floods, 6,836 landslides and 2,258 flash floods. HazMiner outperforms current hazard datasets, especially in data-scarce regions.
Data gaps in datasets on floods, landslides, and flash floods influence our understanding of...
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