A phrase of just a few words was enough to change the course of a tragedy in Nepal. “The flood is coming, the flood is coming,” said a school employee to Principal Rajendra Daudi, who was inside the school complex at that moment with about 900 students.
Without wasting any time, the 47-year-old principal ordered an evacuation. Teachers began leading the children away from the classrooms to safer, higher ground.
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A few minutes later, Daoudi watched as the school where he had worked for years collapsed into the raging waters of the Trisuli River.
“If the information had been wrong, we would have missed a day of classes. But if it had been true, we would have lost our lives,” he later described.
A principal in Nepal says his quick decision to stop class and evacuate students shortly before flooding swept away their school last week saved about 1,000 lives.
Rajendra Dawadi, the principal of Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School in the Trishuli Valley of north-central… pic.twitter.com/WDLA1AaoO5
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The school that vanished in a matter of minutes
The disaster struck the Trishuli Bazaar Secondary School in the Nuwakot district, near the Trishuli River. The floodwaters swept away buildings, roads, and infrastructure, leaving behind a scene of utter devastation.
“When I looked back, the school stood there as one of the finest buildings. And within five minutes, everything collapsed,” the principal recalled.
For him, the loss was even greater, as he himself had attended that very school. “Nothing was left,” he said poignantly.
Despite the successful evacuation, the tragedy left a death toll in its wake. Five students lost their lives outside the school, while a teacher and a security guard were also killed.
“I thought I’d never see my family again”
Seventeen-year-old Santoshi Dotel was in an accounting class when the evacuation order was given. At first, she says, she couldn’t grasp the magnitude of the danger.
“We never imagined that the flood could reach such proportions,” she said.
She initially tried to make her way toward the river with a friend to return home. But within a few minutes, the situation changed dramatically.
“The bridge was swept away. I started crying because I thought I’d never be able to get home and that there was nothing we could do,” she described.
Eventually, her friend led her to a hill, while the water rushed down below.
It took four days before she was finally reunited with her family by helicopter. When she saw her mother, the emotion was overwhelming.
“She hugged me and started crying. My mind went blank,” she said.
“We need a school again”
Rajendra Daudi described the devastation as even worse than Nepal’s deadly 2015 earthquake.
Back then, the school had been destroyed, but the residents managed to rebuild it. This time, however, not only was the building lost, but also the very ground on which it stood.
“We need a school again. But first, we need a safe place to build it,” says the man who became known as “the principal without a school,” but who managed to save hundreds of lives.
Source: PROTO THEMA
