Amazing stories of resilience continue to emerge from quake-hit Nepal, the latest on Sunday being the rescue of a 101-year-old man who was trapped in the rubble of his home for seven days.
Fangshu Tamang, a resident of Khimtang village in Nuwakot, one of the 14 districts hit hardest by the April 25 temblor, was rescued on Saturday afternoon by a team of Nepalese soldiers and policemen.
"The centenarian was trapped under the verandah of the collapsed house when the quake struck. We were lucky to have found him alive," said Arun Poudel, Nuwakot’s deputy superintendent of police.
"He suffered minor injuries on his left hand, left leg and chest and was sent by helicopter to the district headquarters, where he is undergoing treatment at the hospital in Bidur.”
Tamang is in good health and police officers quoted doctors as saying that his condition is stable.
The man was in his twenties when Nepal's last major earthquake occurred in 1934. He told journalists that he survived by eating flour and drinking water from containers lying near him.
"Those who should have survived lost their lives and someone like me who is near death has found a new life," he said.
"Those who should have survived lost their lives and someone like me who is near death has found a new life," he said.
The 7.9-magnitude quake killed 27 people in Khimtang, located 40 km from the district headquarters.
Recalling the 8-magnitude quake of 1934, Tamang said he felt last week’s quake was more powerful.
"I was sleeping inside the house when the 1934 earthquake struck. No one from our village died then. But this time we lost so many," he said.
There were reports that three more people were rescued from under the debris of their home in Sindhupalchowk district on Sunday but the information could not immediately be verified.
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