BIDUR: A headmaster in Nepal evacuated more than 900 students and 16 faculty members within just 14 minutes after receiving an urgent flood warning, saving their lives before a devastating wall of water destroyed their school.
Rajendra Dawadi, headmaster of Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School in Bidur, was at work last Wednesday when the school accountant rushed in shouting that a flood was approaching.
The accountant had received a warning from a relative in Rasuwa, where flooding had struck first. Dawadi immediately stopped classes, sounded the bell and ordered an evacuation.
Students Escape Minutes Before Flood Reaches Bidur
More than 900 of the school’s approximately 1,600 students were on campus. Teachers, parents and students used buses and motorbikes to evacuate, while others ran towards higher ground.
Meanwhile, Dawadi instructed buses bringing additional students to divert to safer areas.
The last school bus crossed a nearby bridge roughly 14 minutes after the initial warning. Shortly afterwards, Dawadi said, another bridge collapsed as floodwaters surged through the town.
The school, rebuilt after Nepal’s devastating 2015 earthquake, stood between the Trishuli River and a hydropower canal. It has now disappeared, with its former site becoming part of the riverbed.
Parents Credit Headmaster With Saving Children
Parents have praised Dawadi for acting quickly during a disaster that has killed more than 900 people, while thousands reportedly remain missing.
Man Maya Tamang, whose daughter Sushmita survived, credited the headmaster with saving numerous children.
However, the disaster brought tragedy to the school community. At least one staff member remains missing, while the accountant’s mother also disappeared.
After alerting the school, the accountant reportedly returned home and managed to move his father uphill. However, when he went back for his mother, floodwaters had already swept away the house.
Dawadi now wants authorities to rebuild the school at a safer location.
