Nuwakot: A school principal’s split second decision to evacuate his students may have saved 1,643 children after a devastating flash flood swept through Nepal’s Trishuli Valley on Wednesday, destroying their school building moments after they fled to higher ground.
Rajendra Dawadi, a 47 year old English teacher and principal of Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School in Nuwakot, received a warning at around 9:20 a.m. that floodwaters were rapidly approaching. A friend told him that a nearby village had already been swept away by the river and urged him to run.
Dawadi initially believed the three storey concrete school, located about 60 metres above the river, was safe. But a parent soon arrived with a more alarming message the water was rising rapidly.
He immediately rang the school bell and ordered teachers to get the children out of their classrooms. He also contacted school bus drivers and instructed them to turn back. All but one bus could be reached in time; the remaining bus had already begun crossing a bridge as the flood danger intensified.
The evacuation quickly turned into a desperate dash for higher ground. One girl suffered a panic attack and was taken uphill on a motorbike, while other students escaped on foot, with Dawadi following them. The children eventually gathered beneath a bodhi tree.
Then the flood arrived.
Powerful torrents carrying water, mud, rocks, ice and debris tore through the area and swept away the school. Yet all 1,643 students survived the disaster.
The tragedy still claimed the lives of two school staff members. Social history teacher Santosh Pariyar, 32, was swept away after returning to his riverside rented room to prepare breakfast. School janitor Sultan Lama also died after returning to close the school doors.
The wider disaster was triggered by a huge mass of ice and rock breaking away from the Langtang Lirung area near the Tibet border and plunging about 1,200 metres into the Lhende Khola river gorge. The resulting flash flood devastated communities and infrastructure across the region.
As rescue operations continue, Nepal is facing a mounting humanitarian crisis, with hundreds dead and thousands reported missing.
Locals have hailed Dawadi as a hero. But standing amid the muddy ruins of his school, he offered a remarkably understated response to his actions “What else could I do?”
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