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🇵🇰 Pakistan /Disasters & Emergencies

‘The flood is coming’: How a Nepalese principal saved 900 students

From Dawn · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Outcome reported
  • Principal Rajendra Dawadi evacuated about 900 students from Trishuli Bazaar Secondary School on Aug. 26 after receiving an urgent flood warning.
  • Minutes later, a torrent of water, ice and debris destroyed the school, while five students, a teacher and a security worker died outside the grounds.
  • The disaster killed at least 1,362 people and left more than 5,500 missing in Nepal and China, according to the article.

“The flood is coming, the flood is coming.” That warning sent Rajendra Dawadi rushing to evacuate roughly 900 students from his school near Nepal’s Trishuli River. Minutes later, the Trishuli Bazaar Secondary School collapsed into a raging torrent.

Dawadi, the school’s principal, told AFP that he had to make the decision quickly. If the warning proved wrong, the school would lose a day of lessons. If it proved true, people could lose their lives. Teachers moved students to higher ground, while bus drivers bringing other pupils were told to turn back.

The flood is coming, the flood is coming

· Dawadi’s accountantThe warning that prompted the school evacuation.

The evacuation saved about 900 lives, but it could not protect everyone near the school. Dawadi said five students, a teacher and a security staff member died in the flooding outside the grounds. The staff member had left after the principal and may have been trying to close the gate.

If the information was wrong, we would lose a day of schooling. But if it was true, we were going to lose our lives.

· Rajendra DawadiHe described the decision to evacuate the students.

The flood destroyed more than a building for Dawadi. The school was where he had studied and where he had worked for years. “When I looked back, the school was standing there like the finest of buildings, and in five minutes, everything collapsed,” he recalled. “There was nothing left.” He now describes himself as “a principal without a school”.

Seventeen-year-old Santoshi Dotel was in accounting class when the evacuation began. She and a friend went toward the river hoping to cross and reach her family, but the bridge was swept away. Her friend pulled her up a hillside as the water roared below. Santoshi did not learn whether her parents had survived until a helicopter reunited her with them four days later.

There was nothing left.

· Rajendra DawadiHe described the destruction of the school where he had studied and worked.

The wall of water, ice and debris followed a massive glacial and rock collapse along the Nepal-China border. The disaster killed at least 1,362 people and left more than 5,500 missing across the two countries.

The bridge was swept away.

· Santoshi DotelShe recalled trying to reach her family during the flood.
About this summary

Originally published by Dawn in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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