School principal saved 900 children with quick decision minutes before Nepal flash floods
Hundreds of more lives could have been lost in the Nepal flash floods if it wasn't for a school principle's split-second decision.
Floods hit the country on the border with China last Wednesday (August 26). Several days later and the death toll is reported to have past 900.
The death toll could have been double what it is had it not been for Rajendra Dawadi's quick thinking, however.
Rajendra is the principle of Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School in Nuwakot and on the day the floods hit, he received four calls around 9am local time warning him about the pending disaster.
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He then made the extremely important call to evacuate the 900 students at the school just 10 minutes before the floods hit.
Rajendra ordered buses full of students to turn around to flee the area. As for the kids already at the school, he told them to run to higher ground.
The principal believes that had he not made the call, he and the children would have died.
"If we didn't make a quick decision, if it was 10 minutes later, we all - including the students and me - wouldn't be able to speak to you today," he told BBC News.
"A parent came and told me that 'a big flood was coming, I am here to take my daughter, I will take her'," Rajendra continued.
"Parents don't rush without a strong reason, so it was confirmed that I shouldn't waste a second to evacuate the children.
"I decided I shouldn't delay any more. Even if the flood was not coming, it was just a matter of a single day's classes."
Understandably he feels 'proud' that they were able to save so many lives.
16-year-old pupil Yunisha Amatya also spoke to the BBC and explained that she and her friends didn't realize the gravity of the situation at first.
"I along with my friends survived by just 10 seconds only," said the teen.
"Just before the flood came, we were in the class studying. Teachers had gathered in one place and initially had no idea what had happened.
"After five minutes teachers came and informed us about the flood and asked us to go home."
Yunisha and her friends survived the ordeal after climbing uphill through an escape route behind the school.
Wednesday’s floods started after a glacial collapse high in the Himalayan region.
Scientists who studied satellite images said bedrock underneath a glacier high in the Himalayan region had collapsed, taking part of the glacier with it.
The rockfall was so extreme that it registered as a magnitude 5.2 seismic event.
The rocks and melted water then swelled the rivers in the valleys below, causing a torrent of water that swept buildings, bridges and earth downstream in Tibet and Nepal.
To donate to Save the Children, which helps children survive wherever disaster strikes, you can visit its website.
Topics: Climate Change, World News, School
Niamh Shackleton