Natural Hazards, Risks and Disasters in Nepal: Insights from Bibliometric Analysis of Research Papers and Disaster Databases

The environment of NepalNépal is characterized by frequent occurrence of different types of natural hazards and associated disasters at the interface with societies. These processes shape the landscapes, disturb environments, claim lives, cause injuries, and destroy or damage infrastructures. A set of 2176 Nepal-focusing natural hazards research items from the Web of Science Core Collection database (coverage period 1945–2020) is analysed from the bibliometric perspective. Natural hazards research in NepalNépal is strongly oriented towards geological and geomorphic hazards, while floods together with droughts are the most researched climatic/hydrometeorological hazard. The bibliometric analysis revealed a prominent role of the 2015 GorkhaGorkha earthquake, which motivated hundreds of studies. The content analysis of abstracts outlined key terms, concepts and approaches characterising natural hazard research in NepalNépal. The analysis of DesInventar and EM-DAT disaster databases corroborates those earthquakes claimed most fatalities while floods damaged most houses. Distribution of loss and damage differs substantially for these major natural hazard types. While statistic on earthquake impacts is affected by few extreme events, distribution of loss and damages from slope movements and floods is more even in space and time. Some deadly hazard types are strongly under-researched (e.g., cold waves), suggesting potential research directions.