SWAT:
Principal Saeed Ahmad’s quick order on Friday saved nearly 900 students in Pakistan’s flooding hit Swat Valley minutes before the rolling waters demolished their school.
“It was exactly at 9am when I had one last look at the flow and felt it would blow its banks due to continued rain,” Ahmad, 59, the school principal told Anadolu. Ahmad ordered an immediate evacuation of almost 950 enrolled students.
Within 15 minutes, the children and teachers were back. Minutes later, torrents of water smashed into school, washing half the building, its border walls and the playground.
“About 900 students were present on August 15 when the flood hit our village and other adjacent areas,” said Sarwar Khan, a local council. “This timely action from the principal saved 900 lives.”
The school was one of dozens of educational institutions that were destroyed in floods that have caused destruction in several districts in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and killed more than 350 people in the last three days, officials said.
Ahmad, who has served as principal for 12 years, remembered that the same building was destroyed during flooding in July 1995. “There were summer holidays; that’s why there was no accident,” he said.
“This incident was in my mind when I decided to evacuate.” Pakistan is ranked among the countries that are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
In 2022, catastrophic floods immersed one -third of the country, killing over 1,700 people and causing an estimated $ 32B in injury.
