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Three minutes to run: word-of-mouth warning came before Nepal flood
🇵🇾 Paraguay /Disasters & Emergencies

Three minutes to run: word-of-mouth warning came before Nepal flood

From ABC Color · () Spanish

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

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Outcome reported
  • Residents in Bidur say they had only minutes to flee after a school employee ran through the market shouting that floodwaters were approaching.
  • A nearby school evacuated more than 900 students and 16 workers, but the flood destroyed the building and turned its site into a river channel.
  • Authorities said they issued warnings and sent 679,295 mobile alerts, although one resident said his neighborhood received no official message before the shouted warning.

“We had only three minutes to escape,” Libes Raj Shakya recalled, describing the flood that swept through central Nepal on Aug. 26. A huge mass of water, mud and debris came down the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli river system, destroying homes, roads and bridges.

Shakya said the warning reached his neighborhood through Sazal Shrestha, an accountant at a local school. After receiving a call from Dhunche in Rasuwa district about a major surge moving downstream, Shrestha first alerted the school and then ran through the market shouting for people to flee.

We had only three minutes to escape.

— Libes Raj ShakyaHe described how quickly the floodwaters approached his neighborhood.

The account broadly matches the evacuation at Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School in Bidur. Director Rajendra Dawadi said more than 900 students and 16 workers were at the school and had about 14 minutes to evacuate before the flood arrived. The school no longer exists, and the site is now part of the river channel.

He ran through the entire market shouting with all his strength so that everyone would run and save themselves.

— Libes Raj ShakyaHe recalled how school accountant Sazal Shrestha warned residents.

Shakya said his family escaped, but the flood took everything they owned. “Miraculously, all the members of our family survived. We are simply lucky to be alive,” he said.

The account also highlights a gap between the official warning system and residents’ experience. A technical report said authorities learned around 9 a.m. that a major flood had entered the Bhote Koshi from Tibet. Warnings began reaching downstream communities at 9:15 a.m., while Nepal Telecom and Ncell sent 679,295 alerts from 9:16 a.m. to people in vulnerable areas of Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Dhading and Chitwan. Shakya said residents in his neighborhood received none before hearing Shrestha’s shouts.

Miraculously, all the members of our family survived. We are simply lucky to be alive.

— Libes Raj ShakyaHe said his family escaped, although the flood destroyed everything they owned.
About this summary

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. 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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