Nepalese Schoolchildren Evacuate Safely Before Flash Floods Hit Bageshwori

Morning assembly was about to begin at Bageshwori Higher Secondary School on August 26 when teachers learned that floodwaters were heading towards Baireni. Principal Prakash Malla told students to move to higher ground. Around 400 children were out of the school before the water arrived. Binita Ramtel had barely settled into her classroom and put down her bag when students were told to leave. "I had just arrived at the school, I had just kept my bag in the classroom and was preparing to come to the ground for the morning assembly, then the teachers made the announcement that the flood was on its way and asked us to evacuate, after which we fled from here," Binita told ANI while visiting her classroom. It was after 9am local time when the water entered Baireni. Students would normally have been arriving then for an assembly lasting about 15-20 minutes. Bageshwori Higher Secondary School stands close to the river.

Principal orders students to higher ground

A guardian living upstream had alerted the school about the approaching flood. Science teacher Dipendra Wagle said one of the staff members received information from Nuwakot as students were getting ready for physical training (PT) or assembly. "When the students were preparing to attend the PT or the assembly, one of our teachers got information about the flood from Nuwakot. After that, our teacher Prakash Malla (Principal) announced from the office to get out of the school and all students ran away from here and are safe," he told ANI. Another warning about the water moving downstream reached Rajkumar Rimal through his spouse. Rimal, whose child attended the school, was working in a field at the time. His spouse told him that flooding had already hit the Betrawati River in Nuwakot. Speaking with ANI he said: "I was working in the field that day, and my spouse called me, warning that the Betrawati in Nuwakot had already been swept away by the flood and it is running downstream. The status of the students in school was my primary concern, as the two schools here are of direct concern and threat of the flood. I hurriedly came to the school and saw everyone was panicking and teachers were shifting the students to the safer grounds from here; I also helped them to evacuate students to the higher grounds successfully. " He later joined the evacuation at the school.

Bags remain on desks after evacuation

When Binita returned almost a week later, the playground was covered in sand and her classroom in sludge and debris. The sudden departure was evident in what students had left behind. Bags remained on desks. Binita and her friend Prasamsha Magrati came across other students' damp belongings, along with tiffin boxes containing uneaten food. Marks left on the walls indicated both the level reached by the floodwater and the damage inside the school. Baireni lies on the Prithvi Highway. Flooding inundated the town on Wednesday, leaving deposits of mud and sand that reached as much as two metres above the river's level. Mud and sludge remained across the school premises almost a week later, while debris continued to give off a foul smell. Binita also lost belongings she used at school. "If it is provided by the local cooperatives; if not, then I am alive, I will buy it again," she said.

17,000 children need humanitarian aid

Around 17,000 children required humanitarian assistance after the August 26 floods, according to UNICEF estimates. The reported toll had crossed 900, with hundreds of people still missing. UNICEF appealed for USD 17.2 million to keep the emergency response going and support the initial recovery effort as assessments of overall needs continued. Relief teams and search operations remained active in the heavily affected districts of Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading. For Bageshwori Higher Secondary School, there was still no clear date for classes to resume.