"We deliver the required power at a certain point, we put a meter on this particular point - that means they will be responsible for the operation and maintenance of the system, " said Dr Janak L Karmacharya, head of the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA).

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Dr Bilham says that the Indian government has even forbidden him to use a gravity meter in the region (such a meter measures whether a point is moving away from the centre of the earth, and therefore indicates a build up of strain that might be released as an earthquake).

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As a case in point, 400 meter dash sprinter Oscar Pistorius inspired millions by making it all the way to the Olympic semi-finals to run his greatest race as a double amputee.

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At one point, a 10-meter stretch of one side of the road appeared to have slipped down the mountainside.

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Just as suddenly the air deadened, and at one point during the night the wind meter read zero.

FORBES: Life