Mountains, multi-hazards, and their management: Disaster risk governance in Nepal and Switzerland

This brief summarizes six distinct findings from a comparative study of disaster risk management (DRM) governance in Switzerland and Nepal, two mountainous states that face structurally similar hazards but operate under starkly different institutional, financial, and developmental conditions. Two recent events, the 2025 glacier collapse that destroyed the Swiss village of Blatten and the 2026 rock-ice avalanche triggered debris flood that devastated Nepal’s Rasuwa district and neighbouring areas, illustrate that these are not abstract concerns but are living governance challenges in both countries. 

Drawing on a review of the legal and policy frameworks governing DRM in both countries, together with expert interviews, the study identifies six comparative lessons relevant to the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 as it enters its final stages and midterm review:

1. Investing early in compound and cascading hazard monitoring
2. Matching legal devolution with fiscal and technical devolution
3. Diversifying risk financing beyond post-disaster international assistance
4. Preserving and formalising “focusing event” learning mechanisms
5. Protecting the “owner-driven, standards-enforced” reconstruction model while closing its equity gaps
6. Treating both systems as “unfinished business” under a changing climate