[taksintik]

Terrible news. Kathmandu is only 40 mi away from the epicenter. That city is extremely dense (1mm+ population) with poor infrastructure. Hope the damage isn't too bad.

[chii]

just as an aside, why do i keep seeing people use 'mm' to stand for million? Is it cultural/country based? i don't think it's a western trait to use 'mm' for million (more common is to just use 'm', or 'mil').

[losvedir]

I do it sometimes (American here). I've always thought of it as M = 1,000 in roman numerals so MM = 1,000 x 1,000. I think I picked it up from a couple years in finance where it's more common.

[koenigdavidmj]

For Latin-derived words, doubling the letter pluralizes an initialism. You will see 'p. 5' to cite one page, and 'pp. 8-17m to cite more than one.

[sp332]

In French, "mille" = 1,000. So "mille mille" = 1,000,000. As losevedir mentioned, it's more common in finance.

[ahelwer]

It is common in economics in the west, specifically oil & gas.