Kathmandu

He looks like any adorable baby, full of zest and giggles while playing peek-a-boo as he waves at neighbours who call him by his name.

Among the sorrow and tears, there really is something to cheer about. He has every reason to smile. But his blissful world is a stark contrast to his parents’ reality of struggle. No one can believe that this toddler had come very close to death.

Sixteen-month-old Sonish Awal of Bhaktapur was only four months old when he was buried underneath the rubble of his two-storey mud house that collapsed when the earthquake struck on April 25 year.

His incredible rescue by the Nepali Army after 21 hours from under the debris led to his reunion with his grieving parents.

Exactly a year after the ordeal, this toddler known as the “Miracle Baby” is blossoming in Muldhoka, Bhaktapur Municipality-4 where he and his family reside.

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“For us and the neighbourhood, it was like the end. I had little hope of cuddling my son again in this life but the NA came to our rescue giving the baby a new lease of life,” Rasmila, his mother, recalled the day Sonish and his nine-year-old sister Soniya were buried under the rubble of the house.

She had just stepped out of the house to buy some goods in a nearby grocery shop asking Soniya to look after Sonish for a while. Shyam, her husband, a truck driver by profession, was at work. Rasmila witnessed many houses collapsing and returned home to take stock of her son and daughter. "I could only see rubble and cried out for help. Neighbours managed to pull out Soniya within two hours and called NA personnel to rescue Sonish after we heard him crying," she reminiscences.

Sonish's face was caked in dust when army personnel rescued him. Sonish was rushed to Bhaktapur Hospital. He did not suffer major injuries.

Amid the horror and devastation, there were stories too of hope as the prayers of those hunting for the missing were answered.

Sonish and his family are both an enduring symbol of hope and a reminder of the ongoing struggle to forge a new life for earthquake survivors. “We think about it every day. It will never leave us,” says Rasmila. The pain lives on not just in this family but throughout the country where resettled quake victims are still searching for a sense of home.

The family of four has been living in a rented room since. The only land the family has is where the debris still remains. "The government is planning to widen the road just opposite of the rubble where the house once stood. If it goes as planned, we will be landless," she lamented.

“I am confident that we will be able to overcome these challenges. The single most important thing is this little boy's life was saved,” she said.