The Ten-Minute Decision That Saved 900 Children From Nepal’s Deadly Flood

Addis Ababa, August 31, 2026 (FMC) — A decision made barely 10 minutes before a catastrophic flood reached a school in Nepal turned a looming mass tragedy into a remarkable story of survival, as headteacher Rajendra Dawadi evacuated about 900 pupils to higher ground just before floodwaters overwhelmed the school.

Dawadi, headteacher of Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School in Nuwakot district, had received a series of urgent warnings that floodwaters were moving downstream.

Within minutes, he chose to halt classes and evacuate the children rather than wait for the danger to become visible.

The school had more than 1,600 students in total, but about 900 were present when the warnings arrived.

Dawadi received four warnings from different people, including reports that the upstream settlement of Betrawati had already been struck by flooding.

The warnings initially appeared difficult to reconcile with the apparent safety of the school. The three-storey concrete building stood away from the river, and there was no immediate sign of danger.

But the arrival of a parent who had rushed to collect her daughter convinced Dawadi that the warnings could not be ignored.

He ordered the school bell to be rung and directed teachers to move the pupils out of the classrooms and toward higher ground. He also contacted school-bus drivers and instructed them to turn back rather than bring additional children toward the school.

The evacuation proved decisive.

Only about 10 minutes later, floodwaters surged through the area with devastating force, carrying mud, rocks and debris. The school was overwhelmed and buried, while nearby buildings and infrastructure were also destroyed.

The children, however, had already been moved out of the danger zone and eventually reached safety in a neighbouring settlement.

Dawadi later explained that he was prepared to sacrifice a day of classes rather than risk the lives of the children. The calculation was stark: a missed school day could be recovered; lives could not.

The disaster unfolded across the Himalayan region near the Nepal-Tibet border, where a sudden torrent of water and debris caused widespread destruction and left communities struggling to recover.

Homes, roads, bridges and other infrastructure were swept away as rescue teams searched for people caught in the catastrophe.

The school community itself suffered losses, with two staff members reportedly killed after returning toward areas exposed to the floodwaters.

But the survival of the pupils at Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School remains a powerful reminder of what decisive action can mean in the face of an unfolding natural disaster.

Dawadi did not wait for certainty. Faced with warnings that could not safely be dismissed, he acted—and acted just minutes before there was no longer time to act.