Nepal's 'miracle house': How did it survive when floods swept away all else?

A green-painted house has emerged as one of the most striking images from the devastating floods in Nepal, standing almost completely intact while buildings, vehicles and other structures around it were swept away by raging floodwaters. India Today reached the house, located in the flood-hit Trishuli region, which became the focus of viral footage showing floodwaters and debris surging around it as a terrified family remained trapped on its balcony. The family was later rescued. Reports, citing an analysis by architectural experts, suggested that the house was built with a reinforced-concrete frame and continuous steel reinforcement, giving it a rigid structural skeleton capable of withstanding the powerful lateral forces generated by the floodwaters. Its location, slightly away from the main debris channel and on relatively higher ground, may also have helped, allowing the water to split around the building rather than hit it directly. The solitary house, surrounded by widespread destruction, has since been dubbed a "miracle house", a striking symbol of survival amid one of Nepal’s worst recent flood disasters.