Nepal floods: Teacher rang the bell, 1,643 children escaped. Minutes later, school was swept away

When Rajendra Dawadi learned of an approaching water wall, he sounded the school bell and instructed 1,643 children to evacuate towards higher ground. A few minutes later, the flood swept through the valley, demolishing buildings, bridges, and the very school itself. Fortunately, every child managed to escape unharmed. Days later, rescuers in another Nepalese village discovered five-year-old Manisha buried beneath the debris.

At first, they thought they heard a cat, but upon removing rubble, they found the young girl alive. The inspiring stories of survival have provided rare moments of hope five days after devastating flash floods and landslides wreaked havoc across the Nepal-Tibet border. At least 788 people have lost their lives, and 3,048 are still missing, as rescuers persistently search for survivors.

In Nuwakot district, 47-year-old Rajendra Dawadi, the principal and English teacher at Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School, witnessed the impending danger on Wednesday morning. He initially believed their 60-meter-high school building, situated about 60 meters above the river, would be safe. However, when a parent alerted him about rapidly rising water, Dawadi took immediate action.

He rang the school bell, directed teachers to evacuate classrooms, and urged school bus drivers to turn back. The children swiftly made their way to higher ground, finding refuge under a bodhi tree. Shortly after, a torrent of mud, rocks, ice, and debris ravaged the area, completely destroying the school. Astonishingly, all 1,643 students survived, though two staff members tragically perished.

Sixteen-year-old Yunisha recounted how she and her friends barely escaped by a mere 10-second margin. "Within no time, the bazaar was swept away in front of my eyes," she shared with the BBC. In Rasuwa district, rescuers near Syabrubesi heard a sound that they first assumed was a cat trapped beneath rubble. As they removed the debris, they discovered the five-year-old girl, Manisha, barely responsive.

It took around two hours to free her. Rescuers provided her with water and boiled rice water until she regained consciousness. Manisha was then transported to a hospital in Kathmandu, where she was reunited with her parents and is now reported to be in stable condition. Yet, thousands of families remain anxiously waiting. AFP reported that 3,048 people continue to be missing across Nepal and Tibet, including hundreds of foreigners, such as trekkers and pilgrims journeying to Mount Kailash.

Rescuers are also racing to reach hydropower workers who may be trapped underground, with Nepal’s disaster authority listing 933 of them among the missing. At the Trishuli 3A hydroelectric project, army troops and engineers have drilled through debris and inserted a pipe into a blocked tunnel, sending air through a small opening.

Nepal’s Home Minister Sudan Gurung reported that they are now sending air into the tunnel. Despite the worsening conditions due to overnight rain and rising rivers, rescuers continue their desperate efforts. In Tibet, Chinese teams were temporarily withdrawn from the hardest-hit area following the formation of a new lake following a landslide.

Scientists attribute the disaster to the fracture of a glacier on the southern slope of Langtang Lirung, triggering a massive ice-rock avalanche and debris flow that traveled over 20 kilometers towards the border. For families still desperately searching for their loved ones, the science provides little comfort. Nuwakot resident Buddhi Ram Dangol lamented, "All the settlements near the river were swept away; there is nothing left."

However, amidst the devastation, the survival of Manisha and the 1,643 schoolchildren has provided rescuers with a precious commodity five days into the disaster: hope that others may still be found alive.