Rajendra Dawadi evacuates 900 students from Nepal flash floods just 10 minutes before water struck
Rajendra Dawadi, the headteacher of Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School in Nuwakot, evacuated 900 children from his school moments before a deadly wall of water struck the town. The flash floods, caused by a glacial collapse on the Nepal-Tibet border, have killed at least 781 people and left thousands missing. Dawadi received four warnings from different people within minutes, including one from a town directly upstream. He decided to halt classes and ordered students to move to higher ground, noting that even if the flood was not coming, it's only a matter of a single day's classes. Dawadi observed a hostel building about 100 meters from the river being engulfed by the torrent of water. Students like Yunisha Amatya survived by just seconds. Amatya described running up a muddy path to safety while the local bazaar was swept away. The floods have damaged or destroyed at least 69 schools, affecting nearly 19,000 children. Nepal's foreign minister called for a global response to the climate crisis, noting that the country has become a major victim of the climate crisis despite low fossil fuel emissions.
Sources
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Last-minute flood warning saved over 900 Nepal students, school head says
Reuters
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Headteacher saves 900 children from deadly flash flood in Nepal
The Guardian
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Head teacher evacuated 900 children minutes before Nepal floods hit school
BBC