There is a custom in Nepal that when you die, your body is set alight on the banks of the holy river.

On any given day, in the shadow of the Pashupatinath Temple, around 30 funeral ghats will burn.

In the aftermath of the devastating 2015 earthquake, more than 500 mass cremations took place per day, smothering the sky with smoke and ash, and the ground with mourners' tears.

The bodies of children were brought to the riverside, wrapped in cloth of orange and gold.

Despite the sheer number of victims, families were desperate to give their loved ones the honourable send-off so revered in the Hindu tradition.

Non-stop, for three days, the fires burned.

The magnitude-7.8 quake was the worst to hit Nepal in eight decades. It destroyed swathes of the oldest neighbourhoods in the capital Kathmandu and was strong enough to be felt all across parts of India, Bangladesh, Tibet and Pakistan.

The collision of the two subterranean slabs of rock known as the Indian and Eurasian plates rippled out across one of the world's poorest countries. The quake was so powerful it actually moved Mount Everest by more than an inch.

By the time the search for survivors ended, the death toll stood at nearly 9000.

In response, Scottish medics flew out to the area, determined to help in any way they could.

Among them were doctors and nurses from an Edinburgh-based Christian international healthcare charity known as EMMS International.

Founded in the Cowgate by Dr Peter Handyside in 1853, the charity began with an aim to provide fee healthcare to those in the poor, overcrowded slum area.

Since then, it has trained more than 400 doctors who have been sent out to work in local mission hospitals in 49 countries including Syria, Israel, Ireland and China.

Nepal, however, presented a whole host of challenges. In the aftermath of the quake, nearly 650,000 families were displaced, forced to abandon their homes and find tents in relief camps.

In the north, furious landslides left remote villages cut off from aid, accessible only by helicopter and altogether more than 600,000 homes were damaged beyond repair.

More than a year on since the disaster, STV reporter Susan Ripoll joined EMMS International in Kathmandu to see how their work - and the courage of thousands of Nepalese - has been helping to rebuild the fractured nation.

Dignity for the dying

Courage on the frontline