The Nuwakot headmaster rang the school bell and got 900 children uphill before the flood took the building

Safety & Advisories Rajendra Dawadi was teaching when the calls came from upstream. Minutes later Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School was gone, and every child who had… By Laxman Rawal · Aug 29, 2026 Read the full story

Every student who was inside Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School in Nuwakot on the morning of 26 August walked out of it alive, because the principal decided to empty the building on a phone call rather than wait for confirmation. About 900 children were on… Travel Himalaya Nepal · News Read the full story

He was in a classroom when the calls came

The warning did not arrive as a siren. It arrived as telephone calls from upstream, where the settlement of Betrawati had already been hit. "At the time I got information, I was in a class," Dawadi said. "Within minutes, all teachers gathered and took the… Travel Himalaya Nepal · News Read the full story

The buses were the second decision

The part of this story that gets skipped is what he did about the children who were not yet at school. "At this time, 900 students were present in the school. We also stopped school buses from reaching here," Dawadi said. "The moment one of the school buses… Travel Himalaya Nepal · News Read the full story

What they saw when they turned round

"We all climbed uphill, and when we looked back, we saw the whole school was washed away." Dawadi has since said the obvious practical thing rather than anything heroic: "Education is very important, and we need to re-establish the school at a safe site. We… Travel Himalaya Nepal · News Read the full story

What this means for trekkers

What this means for you The lesson here is portable and worth carrying up any Himalayan valley: in a debris flow the only move that works is up the slope, immediately, on incomplete information . Not across the valley, not to a vehicle, not after checking… Travel Himalaya Nepal · News Read the full story

How much warning did they actually have?

Roughly ten minutes, and only because someone downstream of Betrawati picked up a phone. There is no automated glacial-flood alarm on this river, which is why the warning travelled at the speed of a phone call rather than the speed of an instrument. Travel Himalaya Nepal · News Read the full story

Were all the school's students accounted for?

Every child who was present was evacuated. Reports citing a figure near 1,600 are describing the school's full roll rather than the number in the building that morning; about 900 were on site. One teacher, Santosh Parihar, remains missing. Travel Himalaya Nepal · News Read the full story

Is Nuwakot on any trekking route?

Not directly, but the Prithvi Highway and the road north to Langtang both run through this district, so it sits on the access route for Langtang, Gosaikunda and the Tamang Heritage Trail — all of which are currently suspended. Our running status is on the… Travel Himalaya Nepal · News Read the full story

Reported from Nepal

Our coverage We are based in Pokhara and we are following this story. Figures are provisional and we date every one of them. Read the full report