Last year around this time, our city was hit by a massive flood. It turned daily life upside down, lives were lost, homes and shops were washed away, and people struggled to get back on their feet. This year, the story is different, but the impact feels the same. A riot broke out, leaving public and private properties in ruins.
Two very different kinds of emergencies, but both revealed the same weakness: the moment markets reopened, food grain shops were flooded with people. On top of that, digital payments just collapsed. Whether it was flood or riot, people couldn’t buy basic necessities when they needed them the most.
We’ve all grown used to digital payment systems, thanks to affordable data, free public Wi-Fi, and the convenience of not having to carry cash. But the truth is, these systems aren’t built for crisis situations. Bank servers, mobile networks, and payment gateways just can’t handle the sudden surge in traffic when disaster hits. So, while we can’t deny how much easier digital services make our everyday lives, they’re far from reliable during emergencies.
Another thing disasters remind us of is how unprepared we really are at home. When shelves run empty, we suddenly realize our own kitchen containers are nearly bare too. Middle-class families like ours often don’t keep much food grain stored partly because of limited space, partly because our incomes don’t allow us to stock up too far ahead. Funny thing is, we’re quick to spend big on the latest gadgets worth lakhs of rupees, but when it comes to basic survival items, we hardly give them much thought.
At the end of the day, living in Nepal means learning to expect the unexpected. Natural disasters, political unrest, or something completely out of the blue, there’s always something that can shake things up. That’s why one rule stands strong: always keep some cash in hand. When networks fail, ATMs go dark, or apps crash, hard cash still works.