- Rajendra Dawadi, the principal of Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School in Nepal, is being praised as a hero for saving 1,643 children from the monster flash floods that ravaged the Nepal-Tibet border.
- At 9:20 am on Wednesday, Dawadi received a panicked call from a friend in Betrawati warning that the village was gone.
- With the floodwaters rising rapidly, Dawadi had just minutes to act, as he had 1,643 children in and around the three-storey school.
- A parent rushed in with a more alarming message that the water was rising fast, prompting Dawadi to ring the school bell and order evacuation.
- Dawadi called school bus drivers, telling all but one to turn back; the unreachable bus crossed the bridge just before it collapsed.
- One girl had a panic attack and was taken uphill on a motorbike; the rest fled on foot with Dawadi following.
- The children took shelter under a bodhi tree as the floodwaters swept away the school buildings.
- Dawadi's quick thinking saved 1,643 children and all but one member of the teaching staff; two staff members were killed.
- The flash flood was triggered by a huge chunk of ice and rock that broke from Langtang Lirung peak and plunged into the Lhende Khola river.
- Dawadi is now focused on building temporary learning centres for exams and finding a safe spot for a new school.
On Wednesday morning, Rajendra Dawadi, principal of Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School, received a panicked call warning him of rising floodwaters. "He said the village was gone: taken by the river. He told me to run," Dawadi recalled.12
With 1,643 children in and around the school, he quickly rang the bell to evacuate classrooms.38
"I got through to all the drivers but one and told them to turn back," he said. As the floodwaters surged, he saw a bus crossing the bridge just before it collapsed.
Dawadi's decisive actions led the children to safety under a bodhi tree as their school was swept away. Tragically, Santos Pariyar, a newly-appointed teacher, was washed away while preparing for classes.7
The flash flood was triggered by a massive ice and rock fall from Langtang Lirung peak, covering nearly 50 acres. The disaster claimed 734 lives in Nepal and 16 in Tibet, marking a devastating event in the region's history.9
“The flood, triggered by a massive ice-rock chunk from Langtang Lirung peak, killed 734 in Nepal and 16 in Tibet, with 2,498 still missing. Dawadi, 47, now prioritizes building temporary learning centres so his year 10 and 12 students can take exams.”
The Times
