'The flood is coming': How a Nepal principal saved 900 students
A school principal in Nepal saved 900 students by ordering an immediate evacuation after receiving a warning about an incoming flood. Despite the school's destruction, the timely decision prevented a much higher death toll.
Why it matters
This story underscores the importance of early warning systems and decisive leadership in mitigating the impact of natural disasters.
Rajendra Dawadi was inside his school near Nepal's Trishuli River with around 900 students last week when a colleague delivered an urgent warning.
"My accountant came to the school and said, 'The flood is coming, the flood is coming'," the school principal told AFP in a recent interview.
Dawadi quickly ordered an evacuation, and teachers hurried hundreds of students from classrooms to higher ground.
Minutes later, the 47-year-old watched the Trishuli Bazaar Secondary School he had run for years collapse into a raging torrent .
"If the information was wrong, we would lose a day of schooling," he recalled of the morning of 26 August. "But if it was true, we were going to lose our lives."
Students were panicked, Dawadi said, and one girl fainted.
Bus drivers bringing in other students were asked to turn back, including one driver who had just entered school grounds.
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