Eighteen days later—when the 7.3 magnitude quake struck—a similar scene ensued, only with a slight twist: she’d already given birth.

“I thought it was all over. We had moved back to the fourth floor after my son was born,” says Sapkota, who is now resting under a tin shed, a few metres away from where her husband,Bishnu, sells vegetables—at the market opposite of Narayanchour—in the Capital. “We have to be extra careful now. I am going to stay here for the next few months,” she says.

The child—a son—was delivered at the Paropakar Maternity Hospital and then later moved to a makeshift ward outside. Seeing the condition of the ward worried Bishnu, for he thought infection would soon reach his wife and new born. They moved to their home after a few days in the tent. “I kept hearing of the risk of life-threatening infections and I thought it was better to take them away,” he says.

The hospital was crowded with expectant mothers and Gita says she saw women who weren’t due until the end of May undergo labour. The UNFPA, citing government data, has said some 50,000 pregnant women and girls have been affected by the quake and its aftershocks. There have been a number of stories where babies were delivered in tents. According to the data provided by the UN, out of 117,326 breastfeeding mothers in the 14 most-affected districts, 80 percent of them, which is around 93,861, are said to be adversely affected the quake.  

In Makwanpur, more than 1,100 pregnant and nursing mothers are sleeping under tarpaulins.

Several organisations have been helping the Sapkotas after the word got out that there was a newborn baby in the vegetable market. Organisations and volunteers have been bringing in supplies for both the mother and the son. Bishnu, whose house in Kavre has been completely destroyed by the quake, lost his grandmother in the disaster. Gita’s family is from Nuwakot, where the damage is just as bad. Her family is okay—they have taken refuge under a tent—but their property and livestock have been destroyed.  Her 25-year-old sister, who is five-month pregnant, is staying with them.

While mothers within the Valley have access to relief materials, the scenario in remote areas is worse. Lily Thapa, founder of Women for Human Rights, who has visited a few districts, says that she met mothers with their newborns sleeping in chicken coops, and mothers who were unable to breastfeed their kids as they themselves did not have access to nutritious food.

While help is slowly seeping into these villages through coordination of the local youth groups, UNFPA and several other organisations, Thapa says that a long-term solution is required. “These mothers and their children are unlike the rest of the population. In the coming months, their needs would be magnified. They will need long-term care,” says Thapa.

The Sapkotas agree that it is going to take a long time to get things back to normal, but they are keen on moving forward and leading a normal life. At the vegetable shop with the little baby inside, they are getting ready to decide on his name. Bishnu says he wants to wait for a few days before deciding, while Gita, speaking from inside the mosquito net with the baby in her arms,says that she wants it to be representative of courage; something that symbolises not giving up. They are open to suggestions.