Moment of joy amidst the horror ... Nepalese policemen cheer after they along with US rescuers pulled out Pemba Tamang, a teenage boy from a building that collapsed five days ago in Kathmandu, Nepal. Picture: AP / Manish Swarup Source: AP

Pemba Tamang was carried out on a stretcher, his face was covered in dust. Medics had put an IV drip into his arm and a blue brace had been placed around his neck.

He appeared stunned, and his eyes blinked in the sunlight.

BABY RESCUE FROM THE RUBBLE

NEPAL EARTHQUAKE: EIGHT MILLION PEOPLE AFFECTED

Spend five days stuck in debris of a seven-story building that collapsed ... Teenager Pemba Tamang is carried on a stretcher after being rescued by Nepalese policemen and US rescue workers in Kathmandu, Nepal. Picture: AP / Niranjan Shresta Source: AP

L.B. Basnet, the police officer who crawled into a gap in the rubble to reach Tamang, said he was surprisingly responsive.

“He thanked me when I first approached him,” said Basnet. “He told me his name, his address, and I gave him some water. I assured him we were near to him.”

Rescuers eventually used jacks to lift the concrete slabs that had wedged him in, said Basnet.

An American disaster response team had been helping the Nepalese.

“He’s not too far down, but the floors have collapsed and he’d pancaked between them,” Andrew

Olvera, who is heading the team from the U.S. Agency for International Development, said shortly before the boy was freed.

Stunnded and blinking rapidly in the light ... Pemba Tamang is carried away on a stretcher after being rescued by Nepalese policemen and US rescuers alive from the debris of a building five days after the earthquake in Kathmandu, Nepal. Picture: AP / Niranjan Shrestha Source: AP

Twisted ropes of steel reinforcing rods were all that stopped huge concrete slabs from falling onto the scene. Two concrete floors hung down in front of the building like curtains.

“The whole operation is dangerous,” Olvera said. “But it’s risk versus gain. To save a human life, we’ll risk almost anything.”

amazing tale of survival ... A US doctor attends to teenager Pemba Tamang inside an ambulance after being rescued by Nepalese policemen and US rescue workers from a building that collapsed five days ago in Kathmandu, Nepa. Picture: AP Photo / Manish Swarup Source: AP

The rescue was a rare bit of good news in a city that has known little but despair since the earthquake hit on Saturday, leaving more than 5,500 people dead across this poverty-wracked Himalayan nation.

CCTV footage emerged on Thursday of the moment the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal.

Locals and tourists are going about their daily business when the ground starts to shake.

The movement is gentle initially but then the ground begins to rumble and then roar.

Residents try to flee but seem confused. Then a temple entrance can be seen toppling onto the road, crushing everything in its path.

When the dust clears, the scale of destruction is clear, with the road covered in rubble and people trapped under piles of rocks. Men attempt to drag an injured woman to safety, while others search for shelter in the chaos.

Kathmandu police say 5,489 have died and another 11,440 people have been injured in the earthquake which struck just outside Kathmandu. The quake also triggered an avalanche that killed at least 19 people at Mount Everest base camp. In addition, 61 died in neighbouring India and Bangladesh, and China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported 25 dead in Tibet.

Beaneth he ground ... US rescuer workers, wearing yellow helmets, plan as they and Nepal policemen prepare to pull out Pemba Tamang, a teenage boy from the rubble of a building five days after the earthquake in Kathmandu, Nepal. Picture: AP / Manish Swarup Source: AP

Rajiv Biswas, Asia-Pacific economist with IHS, forecasts the cost of reconstruction could exceed $5 billion or about 20 percent of Nepal’s economy. An initial estimate by the US Geological Service forecasts damages of up to $10 billion.

Tourism provides seven percent of Nepal’s jobs and accounts for eight percent of the economy, according to the Asian Development Bank.

“I’ve had all my reservations cancelled. I have nil bookings left,” said Hari Man Lama, of Incentive Tours, a travel company in Kathmandu. “This disaster is going to bring a big loss to the travel industry and to the tens of thousands of people who depend on the tourists for their livelihood.”

Brought free after five days trapped in rubble ... Pemba Tamang, 15, is carried on a stretcher after being rescued by Nepalese policemen and U.S. rescue workers from underneath a former seven-story building in Kathmandu. Picture: AP / Niranjan Shresta Source: AP