'It's like hell is here: S'poreans recount ordeals with deadly LA wildfires

One has set up a donation drive with a friend to help women displaced by the fires

- Sherlyn Sim

Singaporean Shabnam Melwani is now holed up in a hotel room in Santa Monica after deadly wildfires in Los Angeles damaged her home and wrecked others.

The 55-year-old businesswoman's home in Pacific Palisades was left smoke-damaged on Jan 7 as the fires, which began the same day, swept through the second-largest city in the US, with at least 24 dead.

More than 150,000 residents, including Ms Melwani, have been forced to flee their homes and more than two dozen people have been reported missing.

Though her friends and family in Singapore urged her to return home and despite the damage to her house, Ms Melwani has chosen to remain in Los Angeles to help others affected by what US President Joe Biden called the most devastating fire in the history of California.

On Jan 10, she and a friend set up a donation drive for women displaced by the fires at her Santa Monica lifestyle store called Sun Moon Rain.

She asked her suppliers to drop off bodycare products and T-shirts at the store. On Jan 13, her team packed 90 packages containing T-shirts, toothbrushes, toothpaste tabs, and body and hair care products. They were set to distribute the packages to the victims of the fire on Jan 14.

Ms Melwani, who has been living in the US for five years, said: "Instead of seeing myself as a victim of the fire's impact, I chose to take control and focus on what I can do, paying it forward by rallying together our incredible community to co-create this initiative."

On Jan 7, the mother of two returned from the gym to find her house covered in smoke.