In a remote corner of Sudan’s Darfur region, tragedy struck with a force that has left a deep scar on an already battered land. On August 31, 2025, after days of relentless heavy rainfall, a massive landslide thundered down onto Tarasin village, nestled in the Marrah Mountains. The disaster, which took place in a region already reeling from the effects of a brutal civil war, has claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people, including at least 200 children, according to estimates from the United Nations and local authorities. The sheer scale of the catastrophe has shocked aid workers and officials alike, with Save the Children’s operations director for Sudan, Francesco Lanino, describing it as "one of the worst natural disasters that has happened in Sudan," as reported by the Associated Press.
The numbers alone are staggering. Sudanese authorities have recovered and buried 375 bodies, but the true toll is believed to be far higher. The Sudan Liberation Movement—a rebel group controlling the area—initially reported that all residents of Tarasin, estimated to be more than 1,000 people, had perished, with just a single survivor. "Initial information indicates the death of all village residents, estimated to be more than one thousand people. Only one person survived," the group said in a statement, as relayed by BBC. The village, once a refuge for those displaced by conflict, was "completely levelled to the ground."
Rescue efforts have been hampered by the region’s isolation and the treacherous conditions that followed the landslide. The Marrah Mountains, more than 560 miles west of Sudan’s capital Khartoum, are notoriously difficult to access. "We do not have helicopters, everything goes in vehicles on very bumpy roads. It takes time and it is the rainy season, sometimes we have to wait hours, maybe a day or two to cross a valley," explained Antoine Gerard, the UN’s deputy humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, in an interview with BBC. "Bringing in trucks with commodities will be a challenge."
Even reaching the disaster site has proven to be a herculean task. Aid workers, including teams from Save the Children, had to resort to donkeys to traverse the destroyed roads and rough terrain. When they finally arrived in Tarasin and its surrounding areas on September 5, they found a scene of utter devastation. According to Lanino, "almost half of the mountain had collapsed on the village at its bottom," and the entire area was buried under mud. Survivors recounted that the landslide came in two waves—the first striking on Sunday afternoon, followed hours later by a second that hit nearby villages and those who had rushed to help after the initial disaster.
The horror of the event is compounded by the silence that followed. The village and its surroundings are cut off from the outside world, lacking cellular networks or any reliable means of communication. As Lanino described, "the village is outside of any cellular phone network or any other way to communicate with the outside world." The isolation has made it nearly impossible to account for all the missing. Thousands remain unaccounted for, their fate unknown beneath the mud and rubble.
Among the dead, children have suffered disproportionately. Save the Children estimates that about 200 children were killed, with 40 among the 150 survivors now receiving medical treatment. The survivors, traumatized and vulnerable, are being cared for by aid groups that are also trying to deliver food, water, and shelter to those who fled to nearby villages, some five kilometers away from the disaster zone. But even here, the threat is far from over. Heavy rains continue to batter the region, raising fears of further landslides. Lanino reported that "people living by Tarasin they’re saying it’s still raining, that ‘we can somehow hear the sound of the mountains cracking’ and they are really worried that more landslides might come."
The landslide is not just a natural disaster—it is a tragedy layered upon another. Sudan has been mired in a devastating civil war since April 2023, when fighting erupted between the Sudanese military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The conflict has killed over 40,000 people and displaced as many as 12 million, according to the United Nations and BBC. The Marrah Mountains, where Tarasin is located, have served as a refuge for those fleeing the violence, making its villages densely populated and especially vulnerable to disaster.
Local authorities and aid organizations have mobilized as best they can, but resources are stretched thin. Mujib al-Rahman al-Zubair, head of the Civil Authority in the Liberated Territories, is leading rescue missions despite a lack of equipment and support. In a video address, he expressed the somber mood of those on the ground: "May the victims of this devastating incident receive mercy." He and dozens of others gathered at the scene to pray for the dead, even as they continued to dig through the mud in hopes of finding more bodies or, by some miracle, survivors.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has echoed the challenges facing rescue and relief teams. Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that local NGOs, UN agencies, and international groups have been attempting to reach the site "partly by donkey due to rough terrain." The UN has also warned that the true magnitude of the tragedy is difficult to confirm, given the region’s inaccessibility and ongoing instability.
For those who managed to escape the immediate danger, the ordeal is far from over. Displaced residents are now living in makeshift camps, lacking basic necessities such as food, clean water, medical supplies, and shelter. Aid groups are scrambling to deliver assistance and help people relocate to safer areas, but the logistics are daunting. Movement is possible only by camel or donkey, and the risk of further landslides remains ever-present as the rains continue.
Minni Minnawi, Darfur’s governor, has called the landslide a "humanitarian tragedy" and issued an urgent appeal: "We appeal to international humanitarian organisations to urgently intervene and provide support and assistance at this critical moment, for the tragedy is greater than what our people can bear alone," he stated, according to AFP.
The disaster in Tarasin is a stark reminder of the fragility of life in Sudan’s conflict zones, where nature’s fury can compound the suffering wrought by war. As rescue teams continue their grim search and survivors cling to hope, the world’s attention is once again drawn to a region too often overlooked—one where tragedy and resilience walk hand in hand.