In one of the areas worst hit by Wednesday’s catastrophic floods in Nepal, a group of schoolchildren managed to survive when they happened to leave their classroom for their lunch break.
Shrestha was among mothers and children who began to return to their school on Sunday to find the kids’ belongings and see what could be salvaged. “That’s how they managed to survive. Thick brown and gray mud coated the surfaces of school benches, walls and notebooks while the school’s courtyard was filled with sediment. Lines on the walls showed how high the water rapidly rose. A pile of small mud-caked backpacks, some with colorful key chains, were on the benches and floors, waiting to be claimed. Kopila Mizar, the mother of a student, was unable to find her son’s backpack, but remained positive. The government ordered schools and universities to shut down for three days following torrential rains that triggered severe flash floods and landslides across parts of the country. University exams were also paused.
“The teachers said, ‘There is a flood and you should leave bags and tiffins,'” said Lakshmi Shrestha, the mother of a student attending the school. The majority of the children at the school appeared to have survived the floods, the families said.
Because teachers told them to quickly evacuate their classrooms shortly before the waters came crashing in, children attending other classes at the school in Dhading also escaped.
