Nepal earthquake recovery includes remarkable tales of survival

The likelihood of survivors being pulled from the rubble in earthquake-ravaged Nepal dwindles with each hour, even as successful rescues have brought cheers to a country shocked by death and destruction.

Experts disagree about exactly how long people can livewithout nourishment, but peoplerarely survive without water for more than severaldays.

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Rescuers still work in disaster zones despite the odds. Fifteen days after the 2010 Haiti earthquake,16-year-old Darlene Etienne was pulled from rubble by French rescue workers, having survived by drinking water remaining from a bathroom.

Here's a look at some of the remarkablerescues after Saturday's 7.8-magnitudequake in Nepal.

'I'd given up'

A 28-year-oldman who was freed after being trapped for 82 hours in a collapsed building inKathmandugave details of his ordeal, saying he drank his own urine to survive.

"I had some hope, but by yesterday I'd given up,"RishiKhanaltold The Associated Press from his hospital bed Wednesday. "My nails went all white and my lips cracked ... I was sure no one was coming for me. I was certain I was going to die."

Khanal, whohad a leg amputated after his rescue, said he was surrounded by bodies and kept banging on the rubble until aNepali-Frenchrescue team pulled him out.

"I managed to take out the handkerchief from my pocket,soaked it with my urine and squeezed it in my mouth,"Khanaltold Reuters on Thursday. "It gave me some energy to shout and I survived."

But he wondered how he would live with his injury, whichwould prevent him from working in the Middle East or on a farmin Nepal.

"I don't even have the money to buy a wheelchair now. Howwill I spend the rest of my life and support my family?"

Survived on clarified butter

TeenagerPemba Tamangwas pulled from earthquake rubble in the capitalKathmandu on Thursday after being trapped for five days.

Crowds cheered as he was carried away on a stretcher,dazed and dusty.He had been trapped under the collapsed debris of a seven-storey building.

Nepalese rescuers, supported by an American disaster response team, had been working for hours to free him. L.B. Basnet, the police officer who crawled into a gap to reach Tamang, said he was surprisingly responsive.

"He thanked me when I first approached him," said Basnet. "He told me his name, his address, and I gave him some water. I assured him we were near to him."

Tamang, 18, later told The Associated Press he was working in a hotel in the building when it began to shake.

"Suddenly the building fell down," he said. "I thought I was about to die."

All he had to eat while he was trapped was some ghee, or clarified butter, he said.

Moment of joy in Nepal

9 years ago

Duration 2:54

A young woman and a teenage boy were freed after being trapped for five nights, giving renewed hope that others may still survive

'Please God, help him'

Nepalese photojournalist Amul Thapa smiled inspite of his hidden pain when he saw the scene he'll rememberalways: Rescue workers pulling a four-month-old boy from the wreckedhome where he'd been trapped 20 hours.

Sonit Awal's chubby cheeks were caked in chalky, concrete dust.One tiny fist curled tightly shut, the other seemingly covering hisface.

His nine-year-old sister was watching him when the earthquakecollapsedmany historicbuildings in the town of Bhaktapur, just east of Kathmandu.

The children's parents were both away but the girl managed toescape unhurt. When Thapa, who works with the newspaper KathmanduToday, first heard Sonit's cries, the baby was trapped under awooden beam.

That beam "was supporting everything," the 26-year-old Thapa remembers. To move it would have meant to bring even more danger tothe trapped child.

Thapa's own family in his hometown of Bhaktapur had suffered andhis home had been destroyed but Thapa said when he heard the babycry all he could think was, "Please God, help him."

At 10 a.m. on Sunday, Nepalese army soldiers pulled out littleSonit.

"When I saw the baby alive all my sorrow went. Everyone wasclapping. It gave me energy and made me smile in spite of lots ofpain hidden inside me."

The photographer said the baby appeared to have suffered only asmall cut over his brow.

Rescue near bus terminal

Police say a woman in her 20s has been rescued five days after Nepal's massive earthquake.

A police official identified the woman as Krishna Devi Khadka and said she was rescued Thursday evening in an area near Kathmandu's main bus terminal.

The official asked not to be identified because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media.

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