Torrents of water rushing downstream from the Himalayas have killed at least 20 people in India and Bangladesh in floods and landslides, government disaster officials said Monday.

Mingma Rita Sherpa was not home when the muddy torrent roared into his village in Nepal without warning, but when he returned, he did not recognise his once beautiful settlement.

More than 100 elephants in northern Thailand have been moved to higher ground to escape rapidly rising flood waters, local media reported, but many other animals were still stuck as their sanctuary struggled to evacuate them on Friday.

Cuc Phuong National Park in the northern province of Ninh Binh has received seven rare and endangered animals over the past week.

A new bee species was discovered in the Vũ Quang National Park in the central province of Hà Tĩnh, announced the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources under the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology and the park on Wednesday.

Up to 36 earthquakes with magnitudes between 2.5 and 4.0 were recorded in September, mainly in Kon Plong district the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum, according to Institute of Geophysics under the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology.

Authorities in the central province of Quang Ngai's Son Ha District have decided to modify a mountain's slope geometry to protect a residential area and a road from being threatened by landslides.