Nepal, Oct. 26 -- When the Nepal Premier League opens its third season at Kirtipur today, it will do so in a country that has spent two months counting its dead. The Bhotekoshi flood of August 26 tore through Rasuwa and on towards the Tarai plains. By early September, more than 1,100 people were confirmed dead and close to 5,000 were unaccounted for. More floods and landslides followed in late September. Some families are still waiting for news.

Then came Nepal's biggest festival, Dashain. Ordinarily the season of return, it did not bring everyone home this time around. In Salyan, neighbours scaled back their celebrations out of regard for families whose relatives are missing in Rasuwa. In Kathmandu, 111 households from Timure spent the ...