3 days ago
Nepal Principal's Quick Evacuation Saves 1,643 Children From Flash Floods
A sudden flash flood rushed toward a school in Nepal.
Principal Rajendra Dawadi received warnings that a nearby village had been swept away and that the water was rising quickly.
He rang the school bell so everyone would know there was danger.
He told teachers to move the children out of their classrooms and toward higher ground.
He also called school-bus drivers and told them to turn around.
One bus crossed a bridge just before the bridge collapsed.
The children sheltered under a bodhi tree while the flood destroyed the school and nearby buildings.
All 1,643 children survived, but two staff members died after returning near the river.
The flood was linked to a large collapse of ice and rock near Langtang Lirung.
Principal Rajendra Dawadi rang the school bell and evacuated 1,643 students toward higher ground.
He contacted school-bus drivers and told them to turn back as floodwaters rapidly approached.
One bus crossed a bridge moments before rising water caused it to collapse.
The flood destroyed the three-storey school, bridges, riverbank homes and Dawadi’s house.
All students survived, while staff members Santos Pariyar and Sultan Lama died after returning near the river.
- Who
- Principal and English teacher Rajendra Dawadi, school staff, bus drivers and 1,643 students at Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School.
- What
- Dawadi organized an emergency evacuation as a catastrophic flash flood approached and destroyed the school.
- Where
- Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School near the Trishuli River in Nuwakot district’s Battar area, Nepal.
- When
- Wednesday morning, 26 August; the articles do not specify the year. Dawadi received a warning at about 9:20 a.m.
- Why
- A large mass of ice and rock broke away from the Langtang Lirung area and plunged into the Lhende Khola river, triggering a torrent of water, mud, rocks and debris.
Residents’ View
Dawadi’s View
How to characterize the evacuation
Residents’ View
Residents and others hailed Dawadi as a hero whose quick decisions saved all 1,643 students.
Dawadi’s View
Dawadi played down the praise, saying, “What else could I do?”
Key facts
- Students evacuated
- All 1,643 students survived.
- Principal
- Rajendra Dawadi, a 47-year-old English teacher and principal; one article gives the spelling Ravindra Dadabi.
- Initial warning
- Dawadi was warned at about 9:20 a.m. that a nearby village had been swept away, followed by a parent’s warning that the water was rising rapidly.
- School location
- The three-storey concrete building stood about 60 metres above the river.
- Evacuation details
- Students fled on foot toward higher ground, while one girl was taken uphill by motorbike; the children later sheltered under a bodhi tree.
- Staff deaths
- Social history teacher Santos Pariyar and janitor Sultan Lama died after returning near the river.
- Flood trigger
- Ice and rock broke away from Langtang Lirung and plunged about 1,200 metres into the Lhende Khola river.
- Reported casualties
- Articles cite 734 or 768 deaths in Nepal, with about 2,498 to more than 2,500 missing; China reported 16 deaths and 546 missing in Tibet.
Quotes
Lakshmi Shrestha
Mother of a student at a flood-hit school in Dhading
“I got through to all the drivers but one and told them to turn back. Then I saw the bus I hadn’t been able to contact coming across the bridge. By now, the water was in the school grounds — it was so fast — so I told him to turn around. It got to the other side just as the bridge collapsed.”
livemint.com
“The teachers said, ‘There is a flood and you should leave bags and tiffins,’ That’s how they managed to survive.”
CNBC TV 18
Chris Haslam
The Times journalist who described Dadabi’s response to the floods.
“rung the bell, sent pupils and staff to high ground, and even had the presence of mind to call inbound bus drivers and tell them to turn back”
livemint.com
Sources
How a principal’s quick action saved 1,643 children in Nepal floods
Nepal Teacher Received Flood Warning. What He Did Next Saved 1,643 Children
How one Nepali school principal saved 1,643 children from deadly flash floods
Nepal Headmaster Saves 1,643 Children Minutes Before School Is Swept Away By Flash Floods; Internet Salutes Him
Headmaster hailed hero for timely action that saved 1,643 school students from Nepal floods
Nepal flash floods: Principal rings school bell, saves 1,643 children as floodwaters sweep through village
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