The lightning bolt struck with such force that it cracked the stone observation tower where Appalachian Trail hikers Mollyann Hart and her sister Lauren Bognovitz had taken shelter, blasting them outside into the torrential rain.

As times progresses, hope of finding more survivors in the rubble following the magnitude-7.8 earthquake in Nepal may dwindle, but there are incredible survival stories from other earthquakes that may keep a spark of hope alive.