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It was an extraordinary disaster, but for Nepal, the difficulties did not end there.
As September brought further monsoon rain, rivers rose again and flash floods and landslides hit parts of the country. Major road connections to Kathmandu were disrupted, highways were blocked and authorities warned of further flooding across dozens of districts. By late September, Nepalese authorities were again dealing with deaths, missing people and significant damage to infrastructure.
For those of us sitting thousands of kilometres away, it can be easy to look at the images and conclude that Nepal is somewhere we should avoid.
And sometimes, of course, that is exactly the right thing to do. Nobody should travel into an area that is unsafe, and anyone planning a trip to Nepal needs to understand the conditions on the ground, follow official advice and be prepared to change their plans.
But there is a difference between avoiding an area that is genuinely unsafe and turning away from an entire country because disaster has struck one part of it. That distinction matters enormously right now. Nepal depends heavily on tourism, and the consequences of travellers cancelling their plans are already being felt. The country ' s main tourism season traditionally follows the monsoon, meaning September
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