Incredible story of human resilience to survive.
AB Wire
NEW DELHI: In one of the most astounding stories of human resilience and the stubborn will to survive odds that have claimed the lives of thousands of others in a similar predicament, a 101-year-old man who was trapped in the rubble of his home for seven days following the earthquake in Nepal, survived the ordeal, and lives to tell the tale.
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, reported The Hindustan Times.
“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, was quoted as saying. “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.
Tamang 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, the Times report 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.