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Evacuation Before the Flood
Rajendra Dawadi, head teacher at Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School in Nuwakot, evacuated students shortly before flash floods swept away the school, after he received four calls at 09:10 local time warning of the disaster.
“If we didn't make a quick decision, if it was 10 minutes later, we all - including the students and me - wouldn't be able to speak to you today.”
Dawadi told the BBC that he had to act immediately, saying, "If we didn't make a quick decision, if it was 10 minutes later, we all - including the students and me - wouldn't be able to speak to you today."
The BBC reported that Dawadi ordered children to run to higher ground and told buses full of students to turn around, as a hostel building about 100m (328ft) from the river was engulfed immediately.
ABC News & Headlines reported that Dawadi saved about 1,600 students, and that Surinder said the floods "swept away the entire building."
The BBC also quoted student Yunisha Amatya, 16, saying, "I along with my friends survived by just 10 seconds only," as she described scrambling uphill through an escape route behind the school.
Warnings, Parents, and Buses
Dawadi described to the BBC that the warnings came from four different people within minutes, including a parent who arrived to take her daughter and told him, "a big flood was coming, I am here to take my daughter, I will take her".
The BBC said Dawadi received four calls at 09:10 local time (03:25 GMT) and quickly decided to evacuate, while Yunisha said teachers initially had no idea what had happened and later informed students about the flood.
KTVN and Ottumwa Courier both described Dawadi as ringing the school bell and ordering students and staff out of the building toward higher ground after an accountant rushed in with a warning that floodwaters were racing through Nepal’s Trishuli Valley.
SBS 뉴스 reported that Dawadi received four warning phone calls within a few minutes at around 9:20 a.m. local time on the 26th, and that he ordered teachers to evacuate all classrooms when a parent arrived.
SBS 뉴스 also said Dawadi shouted at the driver to turn the vehicle around as floodwaters surged into the school grounds, and that the bridge collapsed into the river just moments after the bus managed to back up and escape to safety.
Education at Risk Aftermath
The disaster has left education at risk, with ABC News & Headlines reporting that at least 69 schools in Nepal's flood-devastated districts have been destroyed or damaged, putting education for nearly 19,000 children at risk.
“putting education at risk for nearly 19,000 children”
ABC News & Headlines said the government ordered schools and universities to shut down for three days following torrential rains that triggered severe flash floods and landslides, and that university exams were also paused.
The BBC reported that the disaster has claimed at least 794 lives, and that Yunisha said she is now worried about her further studies and what comes next after surviving the flood.
Save the Children was cited by the BBC and ABC News & Headlines as warning that education is at risk for nearly 19,000 children, while the BBC described students and teachers initially moving a few hundred metres uphill before making their way to a neighbouring village.
ABC News & Headlines added that the disaster killed more than 900 people and that more than 4,200 people are unaccounted for in Nepal, according to the latest figures released by the Nepal police, with Chinese authorities reporting 16 deaths in Gyirong County, Tibet, and 546 missing.