Over 900 Nepal students saved by call warning of flood and quick thinking
School's successful evacuation offers a rare glimmer of hope in a natural disaster that has killed over 900 people with thousands still missing.
In Bidur, Nepal, a school principal's quick thinking and a timely warning saved the lives of 900 students and 16 faculty members from a devastating flood. The school, Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School, found itself in harm's way when a flood swept through the valley upstream, flattening entire towns. The warning came from an accountant who received a call from a relative in Rasuwa, who had been affected first.
The accountant, panicking, called the school and gave the principal just 14 minutes to evacuate the students and faculty. The school, located on a peninsula between the Trishuli river and a hydropower canal, was no longer standing at the time of the flood. Dawadi, the headmaster, ordered classes to stop and the bell to ring, leading to a swift evacuation.
Buses that had been scheduled to pick up students were rerouted to safer ground, and parents and teachers rushed to help with motorbikes and on foot. As the last bus crossed a nearby bridge 14 minutes after the evacuation began, a wall of water was already on its way. Dawadi, himself a former student of the same school, now urges authorities to rebuild the school in a safer location.
While many parents credit Dawadi with saving their children, at least one school staffer and the school accountant's mother remain missing.
Written by urgent.news from Japan Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
