Havoana: a hill that is not very high. Lemaka: flat land, plains that extend as far as the eye can see, or lowlands. Lembalemba: flat land situated on an elevation, a plateau. Lempona: an area or region lower than its surroundings, a depression. Lohasaha: a depression or plain between two mountains or following a mountain range, a valley. Tanety: a treeless hill situated between two valleys. Tendrombohitra: a large elevation that appears to rise high and is difficult to climb, a mountain. Vodivona: mountain foothills advancing and extending into the plain. Vohitra: an elevation, hill, town, village, or hamlet. These definitions, numbering around 100 terms, are drawn from the "Rakibolana" (Régis Rajemisa-Raolison, 1985) and the "Dictionnaire Malgache-Français" (Abinal & Malzac, 1888). Geographic terms classified by altitude include "tendrombohitra mitomandavana" (sprawling mountains), "tanety lava misy isainana" (long hills with ridges), and "lohasaha mangina" (silent valleys). One recalls the recent catastrophe in Nepal. The death toll reached 939, with 3,900 people still missing, swept away by rivers, drowned, or buried under landslides. That stricken town was in a particularly dangerous location: in the heart of the Himalayas, the world's highest mountains, and traversed by rivers flowing down from the surrounding peaks. When the dam broke, massive glacial waters rushed down from the mountain summit, swelling the small river below, destroying houses, settlements, and towns built along its banks. When teachers ordered 1,643 children to evacuate to higher ground, it was discovered that the flood was unstoppable. This recalls what happened in Manambato on the shores of Rasoabe Bay twenty years ago, called "the tsunami." We came down and saw the town engulfed, water and mud everywhere, and we tried to reach higher ground away from the shore. From above, we saw rows of vehicles stuck in traffic, unable to move forward, still at the level of the shore and the ocean beyond Vavony. Had there truly been a tsunami, all those vehicles caught in traffic jams on the roads to Foulpointe, Ambila, and Manambato would have been swept away by the rivers. The ancients did not choose to build settlements in the mountains but in the plains for no reason. Yet today, the opposite is happening: people are climbing mountains and abandoning the plains and shores. Besides what appears daily, unseen in Laniera and along the new "by-pass" and "rocades," the "Ampefiloha" and "67 ha" are being developed as residential areas but will inevitably become water reservoirs in the rainy season. But this is not a local custom: to live in holes, ravines, and low-lying areas. By Nasolo-Valiavo Andriamihaja