Coronavirus: Stranded health worker flees cyclone-hit Fiji

Emily Rash flew to Fiji in January

A teenage health worker has told how she fled Fiji before a devastating cyclone hit a nation already in a state of emergency because of coronavirus.

Emily Rash, 19, of Norwich, had been volunteering on Viti Levu for two months before the global pandemic.

She had been trying to get home before she was forced to evacuate ahead of Cyclone Harold, a category five storm.

It was "heartbreaking" that people there were battling "two disasters at once", she said.

She has set up a fundraising page to help the relief effort.

Cyclone Harold, a category five storm, affected power and water supplies, roads and schools

Miss Rash said she was crying on the aeroplane as she left Fiji, knowing the country was about to be hit by the cyclone that had already killed 27 people in the Solomon Islands.

"Even just taking off you could feel all the turbulence and you knew what's coming for the people of Fiji," she said.

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Miss Rash, a healthcare assistant, arrived back in the UK on 8 April.

She described her time in Fiji, where she helped build a health centre and run youth projects, as the "best two months of my life".

The village where she was volunteering was largely unaffected, but she said: "It's utterly heartbreaking that such beautiful and kind-hearted people are having to battle two disasters at once - Cyclone Harold and Covid-19.

"They do not deserve this, and the unfairness of the situation makes me unbelievably saddened and angry."

Miss Rash wants to raise money to help the relief effort

According to the local Red Cross, about 10,000 people in Fiji need immediate help. Critical infrastructure, such as power and water supplies, roads and schools, have been affected.

Miss Rash, who is due to start back at work at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital soon, said she felt "helpless" in the UK, prompting her fundraising efforts.

"I hope we can all come together and reciprocate the love, care and support that they showed me and help the country and its people through their desperate time of need," she said.

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