Wednesday morning seemed routine until Rajendra Dawadi, principal of Tribhuvan Trishuli School in Nuwakot district, received a critical alert about an incoming flood at 9:10 a.m.
“Everything was going normally,” he recalled.
A staff member urgently warned of rising waters. Upstream relatives had already begun sending evacuation alerts.
Dawadi made swift decisions: evacuating 900 older students (aged 11 to 18) to higher ground and directing bus drivers to withdraw from the area. Younger children, absent from school, allowed for rapid mobilization. He prioritized caution over complacency, stating, “Taking it lightly could mean the loss of hundreds of lives.”
“They were old enough to run immediately,” Dawadi emphasized. Some students fainted from trauma and were airlifted on teachers’ motorbikes.
Fifteen minutes later, as floodwaters surged through the area, the school was obliterated in seconds. One teacher remained missing, while two buses survived the disaster.
The floods, part of a larger disaster that killed nearly 1,000 and left over 4,200 missing across Nepal, devastated infrastructure, washing away roads, bridges, and homes.
“I am extremely emotional seeing the school completely swept away,” Dawadi said, recalling his childhood at the same institution. The multi-year construction effort now lies buried under debris.
With no classroom remaining, Dawadi expressed immediate concerns over resuming education. “We saved lives, but now there is no place to teach,” he said, reflecting on the profound challenge ahead for the community.
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