Los Angeles area colleges aid Sri Lankan tsunami relief effort

Published: 2005-01-11

LOS ANGELES (CNS) -- Sonali Perera, a Los Angeles resident who works in admissions at one of the city's Catholic colleges, came to the United States when she was 5. Her parents brought her and her sister from Sri Lanka to find better education and job opportunities. But she still has close family ties to the island nation and was shocked to learn that her uncle from Los Angeles, who was spending a winter break in Sri Lanka, was nearly killed during the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunamis that hit 12 countries in Asia and Africa. "My uncle was having breakfast with his family in a hotel near the coast when the tidal wave came and they were swept away. When he was rescued from the water, his injuries were stitched up with no anesthetic or medication. He is so swollen he can't move," Perera told The Tidings, newspaper of the Los Angeles Archdiocese. "Because of his condition he can't yet come back to the United States, but there is virtually no medical assistance in Sri Lanka right now," she added. The tsunami disaster has spurred Perera, who is senior assistant director of admissions at Mount St. Mary's College, to organize relief efforts on the campus.

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