A 101-year-old man has been pulled from the rubble of his collapsed home in Kathmandu, one week after a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake destroyed the capital of Nepal on April 25.
In a miracle survival, Funchu Tamang was discovered buried in the debris in Nuwakot’s Kimtang village on Saturday with only an injured ankle and hand, according to AFP.
“He was brought to the district hospital in a helicopter. His condition is stable,” a police officer Arun Kumar Singh told the publication. “He has injuries on his left ankle and hand. His family is with him.” His age has not been independently verified by Mashable.
The National Emergency Operation Centre of Nepal announced on Sunday the death toll had risen to 7250 people, and the injured toll stands at 14,267 people. This toll is expected to continue to rise as the search and recovery mission enters its ninth day.
Many residents in areas of Nepal are living in make-shift tent homes or out in the open due to the fear of aftershocks, with little access to resources or aid. Nepal’s geography of high mountains and difficult road networks “is always going to be a challenge,” Jamie McGoldrick, the U.N. coordinator for Nepal, said. Airlifting goods by helicopter “right now is quite limited,” he said.
U.N. humanitarian officials said that they were increasingly worried about the spread of disease, with medical supplies not getting to those in need. They said more helicopters were needed to reach isolated mountain villages that were hard to access even before the quake.
In the latest logistical issue, Kathmandu Airport is struggling to cope with the influx of goods. The airport’s main runway was temporarily closed Sunday to big planes because of damage.
It was built to handle only medium-size jetliners, but not the large military and cargo planes that have been flying in aid supplies, food, medicines, and rescue and humanitarian workers, said Birendra Shrestha, the manager of Tribhuwan International Airport, located on the outskirts of Kathmandu.
The true extent of the damage from the earthquake is still unknown as reports keep filtering in from remote areas, some of which remain entirely cut off. The U.N. says the quake affected 8.1 million people — more than a quarter of Nepal’s 28 million people.
Source:/mashable.com