Nepal's search-and-rescue operation has entered its 12th day following a devastating glacier-triggered deluge of ice, rock and debris on the Nepal-Tibet border, with rescuers continuing to find survivors nearly two weeks after the disaster struck. The death toll has reached at least 1,300, with around 5,000 people still missing, while hundreds remain trapped in blocked hydropower tunnels, prompting officials to describe ongoing rescues as remarkable given the scale of destruction.

On Saturday, rescuers freed a 64-year-old woman, Chandrika Shrestha, after finding her alive in a mud-buried four-storey home in Betrawati, one of the worst-hit areas, in an operation lasting 45 minutes; her family had already begun an 11-day mourning period. A Chinese national was also pulled alive from a tunnel at the Trishuli hydropower project, bringing the total rescued there to three, alongside two Nepalese workers freed on Friday. Prime Minister Balendra Shah said the woman's rescue had "given hope to the entire nation," while Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal called the disaster a "Himalayan tsunami" and warned reconstruction could cost billions of dollars; the United Nations has launched a $50 million appeal to help deliver aid.