A pundit blesses devotees even as a dog sleeps comfortably inside the sanctum of a temple in Darbar Square, Katmandu. The suggestion that animals can sense earthquakes before they occur was first recorded in Greece in 373 BC, when dogs howled and many rats, weasels, snakes, and centipedes moved to safety several days before the earthquake. In China and Japan animals are considered to be an integral part of their national earthquake warning systems. One early indication of their usefulness occurred in 1975, when officials in the Chinese city of Haicheng were alarmed by odd and anxious behavior of dogs and other animals. These observations led them to order 90 k residents to evacuate the city. Only a few hours later a 7.3 magnitude earthquake destroyed 90% of city.

If only the theory was applied to Nepal!