SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A week after Category 5 Typhoon Sinlaku struck islands near Guam, a 16-year-old girl with a special connection to one of the hardest-hit areas has launched a relief campaign.
Devi Balachandra, a junior at High Tech High International, was born in Saipan. The island is part of the Northern Mariana Islands, U.S. territories lying east of the Philippines.
Typhoon Sinlaku decimated the island when it made landfall more than a week ago. The historic typhoon caused island-wide power outages, destroyed thousands of homes, and led to a shortage of food and water.
Balachandra told me she hopes to head out to the place she once called home next week to help deliver supplies. She had been planning to fly to Saipan on May 1 for a month-long internship studying a coral reef, but that trip will now turn into a relief mission.
Balachandra's family has about 15 family friends on the island, and about five of their homes were destroyed. Images from the island show water dripping from the ceiling of one family friend's home after the roof peeled off, and another friend's property was left wind-ravaged.
When I asked for her first reaction to seeing those images, her answer was simple.
"Shock," Balachandra said.
"One of our friends, it looks like the island in her backyard, because all the trees fell over," Balachandra said.
"Just in survival mode," Balachandra said.
"Our family friend were hunting for coconut crabs in the forest for dinner. Others are just trying to keep the family up and going. Others are standing in line for 8 hours, laundry, standing in line for water, for gas," Balachandra said.
"It’s unrecognizable, small island, nowhere to go for life to feel normal," Balachandra said.
Balachandra and her family have started a GoFundMe campaign and a donation drive out of their garage in Point Loma. They are asking for everything from water to canned goods to wipes. She will take some of the supplies on her flight, and the rest could head out on a cargo ship.
"This is way for us to make some sort of difference. It was our home," Balachandra said.
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