All of these streams and rivers, not just the big ones, have a role in supporting millions of people from Nepal to India to China. Drinking water, agricultural water, transportation (and now energy) come from the waters of these mountains.
One of the major challenges of living in a mountain range is that there are not many roads. There are not a lot of roads because roads are hard to build on the sides of mountains. People who live here often need to hike for hours or even days to get from place to place. If a person needs to carry a lot of things, they might hire a human helper or use mules or donkeys for very heavy loads. You can also often see one person managing a small herd going up trails or over bridges. The traveler does this by whistling to communicate where he or she wants the herd to go.
The earliest people arrived in the Himalayas approximately 4500 years ago. One of the ways they adapted to live with earthquakes is by using a type of mortar (cement) in their buildings that remains flexible. That way when an earthquake happens, everything mostly wiggles instead of falling apart.
