Srinagar, Aug. 15 -- Homes vanished, roads caved in, families were swept away. Officials counted at least 65 dead and more than 100 missing, but in these calamities, the real toll usually comes later, when the water recedes and the silence sets in.

We call events like this "natural disasters," as if nature alone is to blame.

The harder truth is that we make the destruction worse, through reckless construction, weak governance, and communities left unprepared for the dangers around them.

Kishtwar is part of one of the most geologically restless regions on the planet. For 50 million years, the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates have been colliding, pushing the Himalayas upward faster than almost any other mountain range in the world.

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