city grew rapidly. The area along the Phewa lake, called Lakeside, has developed into one of the major tourism hubs of Nepal. Geography Due to the high population density and the frequency of natural disasters, western Nepal is considered one of the most disaster-prone regions in the world. Pokhara is considered particularly vulnerable to earthquakes and floods because the Seti Gandaki River flows through the city. For example, the strongest earthquakes in the region include those of 2015 in Nepal. Pokhara is in the northwestern corner of the Pokhara Valley, which is a widening of the Seti Gandaki valley that lies in the region (Pahad) of the Himalayas. In this region, the mountains rise very quickly, and within , the elevation rises from . As a result of this sharp rise in altitude the area of Pokhara has one of the highest precipitation rates in the country (3,350 mm/year or 131 inches/year in the valley to 5600 mm/year or 222 inches/year in Lumle). Even within the city, there is a noticeable difference in rainfall between the south and the north: The northern part at the foothills of the mountains experiences a proportionally higher amount of precipitation. The Seti Gandaki is the main river flowing through the city. The Seti Gandaki (White Gandaki) and its tributaries have created several gorges and canyons in and around Pokhara that give intriguingly long sections of terrace features to the city and surrounding areas. These long sections of terraces are interrupted by gorges that are hundreds of metres deep. The Seti gorge runs through Pokhara from north to south and then west to east; at places, these gorges are only a few metres wide. In the north and south, the canyons are wider. In the south, the city borders Phewa Tal (or Phewa Lake) (4.4 km2) at an elevation of about above sea level, while north of Pokhara, the village of Lumle at touches the base of the Annapurna mountain range. Pokhara, the city of lakes, is the second-largest city of Nepal after Kathmandu. Three peaks (Dhaulagiri, Annapurna, Manaslu) can be seen from the city. The Machhapuchchhre (Fishtail) with an elevation of is the closest to the city. The porous underground of the Pokhara valley favors the formation of caves and several caves can be found within city limits and neighboring cities as well. In the south of the city, a tributary of the Seti