A school principal in Nepal is being hailed as a hero after his quick thinking saved hundreds of students from the devastating flood that swept through the region last week. Rajendra Dawadi, principal of Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School in Nuwakot district, north of Kathmandu, made the split-second decision to evacuate the campus when a staff member warned him that the flood was imminent.
According to the Associated Press, around 900 of the school’s 1,643 students were on the grounds when the flooding began. Dawadi immediately ordered the evacuation and contacted bus drivers who were en route to the school, instructing them to turn around and head to safety. The older students, who had already arrived for the day, were able to run to higher ground. The younger children, including kindergarten and primary students, were not yet on campus and were saved when the buses carrying them reversed course.
“The students were old enough to run immediately,” Dawadi told The New York Times in a phone interview Monday. “It would not have been possible to save everyone, had kindergarten and primary school students also been there.”
During the chaos, a couple of students became traumatized and fainted. Teachers reportedly scooped them up and evacuated them on motorbikes, according to Dawadi.
The principal’s decision to act without waiting for official confirmation was guided by a simple calculation. “I thought that even if the warning turned out to be wrong, the worst it would cost us was one day of study,” he told the outlet. “But taking it lightly could mean the loss of hundreds of lives.”
The school building, which Dawadi attended as a child before returning as principal, was completely destroyed by the flood. “I am extremely emotional to see the school completely swept away,” he said. “The school holds so many memories for me.”
While the evacuation saved lives, the loss of the school presents a new crisis for the community. “We saved lives, but now there is no place to teach the students,” Dawadi added. “I am already worried about how we can start teaching and learning again.”
A Regional Catastrophe
The flood that struck Nuwakot was part of a larger disaster along the Nepal-China border last Wednesday. The flood was reportedly triggered when a wall of rock and mud collapsed into a river near the border between Nepal and China-controlled Tibet. The resulting surge of water and debris snapped bridges, toppled buildings, and left people stranded in its wake.
The death toll continues to rise, with around 1,000 people dead and thousands still missing, including approximately 85 Americans, according to reports. The president of the Nepal Center for Disaster Management described the flood as coming like a “tsunami from the sky,” underscoring the sudden and violent nature of the event.
The full extent of the damage is still being assessed, but the loss of life and infrastructure is immense. For Dawadi, the immediate priority is finding a way to resume education for his students, even as the school lies in ruins.
Source: www.dailywire.com — https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-a-principals-quick-thinking-saved-900-students-from-devastating-floods