Approximately 60,000 people were left foodless, waterless and charpi-less for 17 hours last week when landslides at Krishnabhir and a couple of other places along the Prithvi Highway brought traffic to a standstill. And of course it was not happening for the first time: Krishnabhir made headlines last year when traffic was disrupted for about two weeks.

Eyewitnesses say about 25 km of road between Narayanghat and Mugling, Pokhara and Mugling, and between Mugling and Kathmandu was jammed with vehicles.

A Nepali Times calculation arrived at 110 buses/trucks per km (approximately 30 ft/bus or truck) resulting in approximately 3,000 vehicles, some double or triple parked along the highway and at Mugling. Now if half those vehicles were buses, carrying 40 passengers each, then that makes 60,000 people. Sitting on the highway, with no facilities and tempers fraying.