Chemeketa Community College Student Rallies Local Residents to Reach Out

By Jillian Daley, The Statesman Journal

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Saras Lal, who is from Fiji, wants to help her family and the thousands of people who became homeless in the wake of a record January rainfall that caused flash flooding. She is setting up the Fiji Flood Relief Fund to raise dollars for those the flood displaced. Donations must be monetary because Lal cannot afford to box the goods and send them, instead creating a bank account at Salem area Wells Fargo banks.

"We (are) human. We help each other," Lal said.

More than three feet of rain fell on Western Fiji last month, killing 11 people and leaving at least 9,000 people homeless, according to The Associated Press. It is the worst rainfall the Pacific island nation has seen in a generation. The disaster not only destroyed homes, but also many residents' way of life, washing away cane farms and drowning farm animals, Lal said.

Power still is down, and food and medicine remain in short supply because poor road conditions make them hard to distribute. People are starving. "A lot of those people don't have food for weeks and weeks," she said.

Lal's brother, Krishna Dutt, is one Fiji resident who is working hard to resuscitate his people's way of life. Dutt is a businessman living on the west side of the island of Viti Levu, a heavily hit area. Dutt and six other Fiji residents have banded together, collecting money and buying food and other goods. The team of volunteers is distributing food and supplies to people in need.