Amid the devastating floods that struck Nepal, a school principal’s quick thinking helped save the lives of 1,643 children. His swift decision, taken the moment word of the disaster reached him, ensured that hundreds of young students escaped unharmed. On Wednesday morning at around 9:20 am, Rajendra Dawadi, principal of Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School in the Trishuli valley, received a call from a friend warning him that an entire village had been washed away by the river and urging him to run immediately. At the time, there were 1,643 children present in and around the school.
The disaster was triggered when a mass of ice and rock suddenly collapsed from a glacier, causing a dramatic surge in water levels in mountain rivers. The resulting floodwaters, carrying rocks, mud, ice and debris, swept away buildings, bridges and power stations along their path. The disaster has so far claimed 734 lives in Nepal and 16 in Tibet, with 2,498 people still missing in Nepal and another 546 unaccounted for in the Gyirong area of Tibet.
At the time, 47-year-old Rajendra Dawadi was also working as an English teacher. As floodwaters rose rapidly, the responsibility for the safety of all the children fell on him, and he had only a few minutes to get them out of harm’s way. Initially, Dawadi believed the school itself was safe — the concrete structure stood nearly 60 metres above the river, at roughly the same elevation as an iron bridge connecting the village to the eastern side.
However, within a short while, the parents of one student arrived at the school and told him that the water was rising extremely fast. Realising the seriousness of the situation, Dawadi immediately had the school bell rung and instructed teachers to evacuate children from the classrooms. He also called the school bus drivers, asking them to turn their buses around. He was unable to reach one driver in time, however, and watched as that bus had already begun crossing the bridge.
By then, the children too had grasped the danger. One girl, overcome with fear, was taken up the hillside on a motorcycle, while the rest of the children ran on foot toward safer ground, with Dawadi following close behind. The children eventually gathered and took shelter under a Bodhi tree. Shortly afterward, the floodwaters surged toward the school and completely swept away its buildings.
Thanks to Dawadi’s swift response, all 1,643 children survived. Nearly all school staff members also escaped safely, though two lost their lives in the disaster. Santosh Parihar, a 32-year-old social studies teacher, was swept away by the floodwaters after returning to his rented room to cook breakfast that morning. Sultan Lama, a member of the school’s sanitation staff, also died in the floods after going back to close the doors of a building.
Local residents have hailed Dawadi as a hero for saving the children’s lives. He, however, does not see himself that way. “What else could I have done?” he said, looking at the mud and debris now left where the school once stood.