Inuvik (Jan 14/05) - While Inuvik's elementary students were unloading the contents of their piggy banks to help the people of southeast Asia, Sri Lankan-born doctor Ranjith Perera was preparing to head back to his homeland to lend his expertise.

Currently a mental health and addictions counsellor with the Family Counselling Centre, Perera has been given leave for three weeks. Once in Sri Lanka - after brief fundraising stops in Vancouver and Toronto - Perera, a medical doctor and psychiatrist, will instruct caregivers there on how to deal with victims suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

"Seventy-two hours to six weeks after (the tsunami) is when post-traumatic stress disorder can set in, so time is critical," he said.

The affliction, which can trigger nightmares, flashbacks and sleep disorders, is common among people who have witnessed indescribable events such as combat, violent crime and disasters like the tsunamis that devastated the coastline of several Asian and African nations over the Christmas holidays.

Perera, who found out about the disaster from his wife, who is also a doctor and was working in Sri Lanka at the time, says his family in the Asian nation are fine.

Unfortunately, a colleague's sister-in-law clutched her children and watched in horror while her husband was swept into the Indian Ocean.

According to media reports, more than 30,000 people have died in Sri Lanka, thousands are still missing and between 800,000 and one million people have been left homeless. Around the region, the total death toll from the disaster is climbing towards the 200,000 mark.

"Unlike Canada, there is no social assistance or insurance system (in Sri Lanka) so those who lost their property, that's the end of it," said Perera. "They are thinking of how to get their next meal."

Perera estimates that 80 to 90 per cent of the people affected were fishermen, many whose boats were destroyed. No stranger to dealing with traumatized patients, Perera gained much of his PTSD experience working at the Army Rehabilitation Hospital in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, dealing with the government soldier victims of the civil war between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers. Perera says a ceasefire has been brokered between the factions while Sri Lanka deals with the tragedy.

Sir Alexander Mackenzie school's (SAMS) hallways were alive with the clinking of change as students and teachers emptied their piggy banks and collected donations for the aid efforts underway in Asia.

"It's not so much the amount of money, but the act of actually giving," said principal Bernie MacLean of the fundraising drive. "I know many students who are giving up their allowances and for them, it's a big deal."

Aiming for one dollar per student, MacLean says the school should surpass that goal. On Monday, SAMS reported collecting almost $3,000, which will be donated to the Red Cross. Grade 2 student Carina Saturnino summed up the students' efforts this way.

"It's important because (those affected) have nothing."

Grade 4 student Kristen Elias was concerned about those whose homes were destroyed.

"Maybe this money can help make new houses for the people that are still alive."

In addition to staff and students, SAMS will also take donations from others interested in giving to the cause.