Kathmandu [Nepal], August 31: A quick-thinking headteacher in Nepal is believed to have saved the lives of at least 900 pupils by ordering an immediate evacuation, minutes before catastrophic floodwaves reached his school.
Rajenda Dawadi, headteacher of the Tribhuvan Trishuli secondary school in the Nuwakot district, told DPA on Sunday that he learnt about the approaching flood from several phone calls around 15 minutes before it reached the area.
"I told myself: if there's no flood, we lose a day of studies. But if there is a flood, we all lose our lives," Dawadi said, explaining his decision to order an immediate evacuation.
The 900 children at the school immediately fled on foot. Panic briefly broke out as the pupils ran out, while one girl was evacuated by motorcycle to hospital after fainting.
Dawadi was also able to divert school buses reportedly carrying hundreds more children on their way to school in time. "If we had made the decision 10 minutes later, all of us, including the students and me, would not be able to speak to you today," the teacher told BBC. The school was located along the banks of the Trishuli River, which was hit by a massive wave of floods on Wednesday following a glacier collapse in Tibet.
One of Dawadi's rescued pupils, 16-year-old Yunisha, told BBC that she managed to reach safety just seconds before the flood hit, running uphill along a muddy path behind the school, while the village behind her was destroyed by the masses of water and debris. Almost nothing remains of the school building, Dawadi said.
At least one member of staff was killed in the flood.
Source: Qatar Tribune