…evacuates pupils minutes before raging waters destroy building
NUWAKOT, NEPAL — The swift action of a school headmaster has saved 1,643 children and members of staff from a devastating flood that swept through Nepal’s Trishuli Valley and destroyed their school building.
Rajendra Dawadi, headmaster of Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School in Nuwakot District, ordered the immediate evacuation of the school after receiving an urgent warning that floodwaters were rapidly approaching the area.
At the time, about 1,643 students and staff members were in and around the school’s three-storey building.
Dawadi reportedly acted without hesitation, sounding the school bell and directing teachers to immediately move students from their classrooms to safer and higher ground.
School buses were contacted and instructed to turn back, while students escaped from the area by buses, motorcycles and on foot.
Reuters reported that the school had only about 14 minutes to evacuate before the raging floodwaters struck.
The decision proved crucial.
Floodwaters later surged through the area with devastating force, sweeping away the school building.
But by the time the flood arrived, the children and staff had already been evacuated to safety.
A building that had been occupied by hundreds of students only minutes earlier was destroyed, but the timely evacuation ensured that the 1,643 students survived.
Dawadi later said the urgency of a parent who rushed to the school to pick up a child reinforced his decision to take the warning seriously.
“Parents don’t rush without a strong reason,” he was quoted as saying by ABC News.
The disaster, however, came at a heavy cost to the school community.
Reports indicated that a member of staff died after returning towards the river area, while the entire school building was destroyed by the flood.
The survival of the students has nevertheless attracted international attention, with Dawadi’s swift action being hailed as a powerful example of decisive leadership and the importance of prompt response during emergencies.
The tragedy occurred amid widespread flooding and landslides across Nepal, which have destroyed homes, damaged critical infrastructure and displaced residents in several communities.
Save the Children reported that at least 69 schools had been damaged in flood-affected areas, putting the education of nearly 19,000 children at risk.
For Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School, the damage was extensive.
The building was lost, but the children were saved.
And the difference, according to reports, was a decision taken within minutes.
Faced with an uncertain warning and very little time to act, Dawadi chose caution over hesitation — a decision that moved 1,643 children away from the path of floodwaters that eventually destroyed the very building they had occupied.
