Relief organizations and governments have already pledged millions of dollars to earthquake relief efforts. Discovery is donating $250,000 to the relief efforts and has launched an employee matching campaign. Join the Discovery family in supporting GlobalGiving's Nepal Earthquake Relief Fund.
Exceptional stories of resilience and survival are emerging from Nepal, where residents are beginning to rebuild after the strongest earthquake to hit the country in 80 years rattled the small nation:
Rescue crews were initially unable to extract an infant from the wreckage of his home; the baby survived in the rubble overnight and was miraculously rescued the next morning with no injuries, according to Kathmandu Today.
Rishi Khanal was eating lunch in Kathmandu when the earthquake struck; his foot quickly became trapped in the rubble, and he was unable to escape from the crumbling building. He was trapped for 82 hours before rescuers heard him calling for help. After a 6-hour extraction, Khanal was freed from the rubble of his hotel and his currently receiving medical attention for his injuries, ABC News reports.
A 15-year-old boy was finally rescued after five long days of entrapment beneath the rubble of his hotel. Sky News reports that a group of onlookers cheered as the boy was carried away from the scene in a neck brace.
A 15-year-old boy has been pulled from the rubble of Nepal's quake, five days after the disaster.
Rescuers took several hours to free the teenager from a collapsed hotel in Kathmandu - just as hopes had begun to fade of finding anyone else alive.
Crowds cheered as the survivor, named by police as Pemba Tamang, was carried out on a stretcher, his face covered in dust.
The boy, who had been trapped between two collapsed floors, was given a drip and neck brace.
From a tragedy that has yielded little positive news, another heartwarming story emerged in the form of a photograph showing a four-month-old baby pulled from the rubble on Sunday.
A team from the Nepalese army had given up hope of finding little Sonit Awal when his father heard faint cries in the ruins of the family home.
The soldiers returned and found the baby alive after 22 hours trapped in dirt.
It has emerged that 600,000 homes have been destroyed or severely damaged by the quake.
The United Nations estimates that £270m is required simply to tide Nepal over, while 1.4 million people are in urgent need of food.
Five days on, the rescue operation is being hampered by the weather.
"The rain is adding to the problems. Nature seems to be against us," said Rameshwor Dandal, chief of the disaster management centre at Nepal's home ministry.
There is growing anger in the country over the time it is taking to distribute aid.
About 200 people protested outside the parliament in the capital Kathmandu, demanding more buses to their homes in remote parts of the Himalayan nation.
In Sangachowk village, one of the worst-hit districts about three hours by car from the capital, scores of angry villagers are blocking roads.
"We have been given no food by the government," said Udhav Giri, 34.
"Trucks carrying rice go past and don't stop. The district headquarters is getting all the food."
The government has struggled to fully assess the devastation caused by Saturday's 7.9-magnitude quake.
Nepal's communication minister, Minendra Rijal, has admitted authorities made mistakes, saying: "This is a disaster on an unprecedented scale. There have been some weaknesses in managing the relief operation."
The number of confirmed deaths has risen to nearly 5,500. Almost 10,000 were injured in Nepal, and more than 80 were also killed in India and Tibet.
Prime Minister Sushil Koirala has warned the death toll could reach 10,000, with information on casualties and damage from far-flung villages and towns yet to come in.
Meanwhile, climbing is to resume on Mount Everest by next week despite an earthquake-triggered avalanche that left 18 people dead.
The avalanche ripped through base camp and destroyed ladders on the treacherous Khumbu icefall higher up the mountain.
But Nepal tourism chief Tulsi Gautam advised climbers against abandoning their expeditions, saying repairs were under way.
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