Rescuers pulled a 15-year-old boy alive from the rubble of Nepal's earthquake Thursday, bringing a rare moment of joy to the ruined capital Kathmandu, five days after a disaster which killed nearly 6,000 people.

The rescue of Pemba Tamang, who told AFP that he stayed alive by eating ghee, was hailed as a miracle and greeted with cheers from crowds of bystanders who massed to watch the drama unfold at a ruined guesthouse.

After days of sleeping outdoors with her two young children and hours of waiting in the strong sun for a bus out of Nepal's quake-devastated capital, Rajana's patience finally snapped.

"We've been left starving in the cold and the best this government can give us is this queue. Why are they so slow?" demanded Rajana as she lined up along with thousands of other Nepalis for a bus to her home village.

Desperate Nepalis clashed with riot police and seized supplies of bottled water in the capital Wednesday as anger boiled over among survivors of an earthquake that killed more than 5,000 people.

Supplies are running thin and aftershocks have strained nerves in the ruined city, home to some 2.5 million before it was shattered by Saturday's 7.8 magnitude quake.

Hungry and desperate villagers rushed towards relief helicopters in remote areas of Nepal Tuesday, begging to be airlifted to safety, four days after a monster earthquake killed more than 5,000 people.

"The ground keeps shaking, even this morning it did. Every time it feels like we will be swallowed, that we will die now. I want to get out of here!" said Sita Gurung, 24, whose home had been wrecked.

The U.N. food agency said Monday it was preparing a large-scale aid operation to earthquake-ravaged Nepal, with a first plane set to arrive Tuesday.

"This will be a large, massive operation," Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman for the U.N.'s World Food Program, told AFP.

Nine Greek climbers who were robbed by a sherpa guide in Kathmandu told Sunday of their lucky escape after heading home from Nepal the day before an earthquake triggered the deadliest disaster in Mount Everest's history.

"We arrived in Kathmandu last week and there we discovered that our sherpa had disappeared with the money we had given him," Nerit Sophoclis Paitis, one of the climbers told Nerit, Greek public television.

Nepalese doctors set up makeshift operating theaters in a hospital car park Sunday as they worked round the clock to treat the wounded from a monster quake that has also left morgues overflowing with bodies.

As disaster officials said nearly 6,000 people were injured in Saturday's 7.8 magnitude quake, medics in the impoverished Himalayan nation told how they had been unable to save some of the most grievously wounded.

A massive earthquake killed more than 1,200 people Saturday as it tore through large parts of Nepal, toppling office blocks and towers in Kathmandu and triggering a deadly avalanche at Everest base camp.

Officials said at least 1,170 people are known to have died in Nepal, making it the quake-prone Himalayan nation's worst disaster in more than 80 years.

Nepalese police arrested over a dozen demonstrators Tuesday for trying to enforce a nationwide Maoist-led strike to protest the ruling coalition's plan to push through a new constitution without opposition agreement.

The opposition has forced factories, schools and public transport to shut down across the Himalayan nation to protest government plans to hold a vote on disputed terms of the charter after failing to reach cross-party agreement.

Nepalese rescuers on Thursday scoured Himalayan hiking routes for more than 100 trekkers who have been out of contact since a snowstorm and avalanche that have killed around 32 people, including foreign tourists and guides.

Local officials said that 24 bodies had been found on the popular Annapurna circuit, while five climbers who were staying at a mountain base camp when it was hit by an avalanche could not be found and were presumed dead.