Centenarian survives Nepal quake

Published May 4, 2015

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Kathmandu - A 101-year-old man found alive in his ruined house seven days after a devastating earthquake hit Nepal has spoken of his sorrow that he survived when younger people were killed.

Funchu Tamang was trapped beneath the collapsed verandah of his home in Khimtang village, Nuwakot district, but suffered only minor injuries.

He told journalists that he had survived by eating flour and drinking water that happened to be in containers nearby when the quake struck, the Hindustan Times reported.

“Those who should have survived lost their lives and someone like me, who is near death, has found a new life,” he said.

Twenty-seven people died in his village alone.

He was in his 20s when the last major earthquake hit Nepal in 1934.

“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,” Mr Tamang said.

He was found on Saturday by a team of soldiers and police officers and airlifted to a local hospital.

Arun Poudel, Nuwakot's deputy superintendent of police, said: “The centenarian was trapped under the verandah of the collapsed house when the quake struck. We were lucky to have found him alive. He suffered minor injuries on his left hand, left leg and chest.”

Three women were also rescued in Sindhupalchowk district on Sunday - two from their ruined homes and the other from a landslide. They were expected to be among the last survivors of the disaster.

The death toll reached 7 057 on Sunday but a Nepalese government minister warned that it was expected to climb “much higher”.

The Finance Minister, Ram Sharan Mahat, said: “There are still villages where we know that all houses have been destroyed, but which we have not yet been able to reach.”

The slow distribution of emergency aid has become an increasing concern and yesterday the United Nations urged Nepal to relax import restrictions that it said were hampering the delivery of international humanitarian supplies to earthquake victims still struggling to find basic food and shelter.

In pointed remarks, the UN's humanitarian chief, Baroness Valerie Amos, reminded Nepal's Prime Minister, Sushil Koirala, that he had signed an agreement to allow simpler and faster customs clearance for relief aid in the event of a disaster.

“He has undertaken to ensure that happens, so I hope that from now we will see an improvement in those administrative issues,” she said.

“I am also conscious of the urgent need to provide emergency shelter and basic goods and services to people affected as the monsoon season rapidly approaches. So many people have lost everything.”

The Home Ministry spokesman, Laxmi Prasad Dhakal, said all goods arriving from abroad still had to be inspected.

Rameshwor Dangal, of Nepal's National Disaster Management Division, said: “The situation needs to improve.”

The Independent

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