The northeastern states of India have once again found themselves at the epicenter of a natural disaster: torrential rains, large-scale flooding, and devastating landslides have claimed the lives of dozens and forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes. As of early June, at least forty-six people have died. The disaster has affected the states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Tripura, Manipur, Sikkim, and Mizoram.
More than 800 landslides have been recorded across the northeastern region. Transportation has been disrupted, infrastructure destroyed, and the scale of the disaster continues to grow.
The state of Assam has suffered the greatest damage, with nearly six hundred fifty thousand people affected. A total of one thousand four hundred ninety-four villages have been completely submerged. The state capital, Guwahati, remained underwater for over a week. Rescue operations have involved rubber boats, and more than forty-one thousand people have been housed in four hundred five temporary relief camps.
On May 31st, the city of Silchar received sixteen point three eight inches of rainfall in twenty-four hours — breaking a record set in 1893. In the North Lakhimpur district, a sudden water release from the Panyor Hydro Electric Plant dam in Arunachal Pradesh led to the deaths of two people and the flooding of two hundred forty-three villages.
The second-most affected state is Manipur, where over one hundred sixty-five thousand people have been impacted, particularly in the Imphal Valley. Three major rivers — the Imphal, Kongba, and Nambul — overflowed, damaging more than thirty-five thousand homes. Rescue efforts have forced over four thousand people to evacuate.
In the mountainous state of Mizoram, seven hundred sixty-nine landslides were recorded — the highest in the region. These caused houses to collapse and blocked most roads across the state.
In Arunachal Pradesh, flooding and landslides have caused widespread infrastructure damage, power outages, and disruptions to food supply.
In Sikkim, tragedy struck a military camp in Chatten, near the town of Lachen (in Mangan district), where a landslide struck the camp. There are reports of fatalities and missing persons.
In Meghalaya, on May 31st, extreme rainfall exceeding eighteen point five inches was recorded in the towns of Sohra and Mawsynram. The runoff from this rainfall increased the flood burden in neighboring Assam.
The growing frequency of natural disasters in India reflects a deeply alarming trend. According to the annual report by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), in 2024, extreme weather events claimed the lives of around three thousand people, destroyed nearly five million acres of agricultural land, and damaged eighty thousand homes. Such events occurred on eighty-eight percent of days throughout the year.
The country also witnessed a record number of climate-related internal displacements — five point four million people, the highest figure in South Asia, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC).
All these facts highlight the urgent need for immediate action to reduce the intensity of natural disasters, as adapting to them has become nearly impossible. The international scientific community of AllatRa has proposed specific engineering solutions that have already proven effective in reducing the frequency and strength of disasters in practice. These technologies were detailed by AllatRa scientist Dr. Egon Cholakian in his report “Declaration That Will Shake Science.”