Rajendra Dawadi was at his school in Nuwakot, Nepal, when his phone rang four times in a row.
It was 9:10 in the morning. On the other end, urgent voices warned him that the river was rising and would reach the building where 900 students were taking classes as usual within minutes. He did not hesitate: he ordered everyone to run to higher ground and stopped the school buses that were still heading toward the school before they became trapped on the route.
Ten minutes later, the water swept through the site, leaving the building buried under mud and debris. A shelter located just 100 meters from the river was submerged almost instantly. “If we had been 10 minutes later, none of us, including the students and me, would be able to speak with you today”, Dawadi later recounted. The floods have already left hundreds dead and thousands missing across Nepal.