KATHMANDU: One week on from an earthquake that killed more than 6,700 people, Nepal ruled out finding more survivors buried in the ruins of Kathmandu on Saturday despite relatives refusing to give up hope.

Two days after any signs of life had been detected among the mountains of rubble that litter the capital, the focus was shifting to reaching survivors in far-flung areas who have yet to receive relief supplies.

The 7.8-magnitude quake wreaked a trail of death and destruction when it erupted around midday last week.

The exact scale of the calamity yet to emerge

“It has already been one week since the disaster,” home ministry spokesman Laxmi Prasad Dhakal said. “We are trying our best in rescue and relief work but now I don’t think that there is any possibility of survivors under the rubble.”

As well as updating the death toll to 6,621, Dhakal put the number of injured at 14,023. More than 100 were also killed in India and China.

While multiple teams of rescuers from more than 20 countries have been using sniffer dogs and heat-seeking equipment to find survivors in the rubble, no one has been pulled out alive since Thursday evening.

Nevertheless, relatives of those missing have refused to abandon hope. “I believe he must still be trapped and will be rescued alive,” said Suntali Tamang, whose husband Langte, 41, was believed to be in the same neighbourhood of Gongabu where the last survivors were found.

“I reached here three days ago after he went missing,” she said after travelling to Kathmandu from the family’s home in the northeastern Dolakha district.

“He was the family’s breadwinner and I am praying for him to be brought back safely.”

The exact scale of the disaster was still to emerge, with the mountainous terrain in the vast Himalayan nation complicating the relief effort.

With relief workers still to reach many areas, it is likely to be some time before authorities come up with a comprehensive list of people missing but police said the task of compiling names had begun.

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2015

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