Nepal's quake-driven landslide hazards: Large earthquakes can trigger dangerous landslides across a wide geographic region. The 2015 M _w 7.8 Gorhka earthquake near Kathmandu, Nepal, was no exception. Kargal et al. used remote observations to compile a massive catalog of triggered debris flows. The satellite-based observations came from a rapid response team assisting the disaster relief effort. Schwanghart et al. show that Kathmandu escaped the historically catastrophic landslides associated with earthquakes in 1100, 1255, and 1344 C.E. near Nepal's second largest city, Pokhara. These two studies underscore the importance of determining slope stability in mountainous, earthquake-prone regions. Science , this issue p. 10.1126/science.aac8353 ; see also p. 147

The bigger they are, the harder they fall: The magnitude 7.8 Gorkha earthquake hit Nepal on 25 April 2015. The earthquake killed thousands and caused great damage. Galetzka et al. determined how the fault that caused this earthquake ruptured. The rupture showed a smooth slip pulse 20 km wide that moved eastward along the fault over about 6 s. The nature of the rupture limited damage to regular dwellings but generated shaking that collapsed taller structures. Science , this issue p. 1091

Faults are generally assumed to be more complicated at the surface than at depth. Analysis of the 2010 El Mayor-Cucapah earthquake, in contrast, reveals that the surface trace is nearly straight but the fault must be highly segmented at depth, thus the characteristics of this earthquake could not have been anticipated from surface geology.