Amid empty Westwood streets, international students face prospect of evacuation

The University Cooperative Housing Association is pictured. International students living in the UCHA co-op considered evacuation plans after the onset of fires across Los Angeles County. (Nicolas Greamo/Daily Bruin senior staff)

By Maggie Konecky
Jan. 11, 2025 3:42 p.m.
This post was updated Jan. 12 at 11:10 p.m.
While fires burned in Los Angeles County, international students in one Westwood residential building debated their next move.
Fourth-year psychology student Mónica Céspedes Berdonces watched from the sidewalk as her friends loaded their bags and piled into a car. Céspedes Berdonces, an exchange student from Spain, said she had never seen a natural disaster before this Tuesday and had decided to stay in Westwood, despite her friends’ departures.
As of 3:30 p.m. Saturday, the UCLA campus has not received an evacuation warning or order. However, areas under evacuation warning directly border the campus perimeter, and there are areas under evacuation order less than a mile away from campus.
[Related: New evacuation warning for Palisades fire borders UCLA campus]
Céspedes Berdonces lives at the University Cooperative Housing Association – a group of collectively owned residential buildings popular among international and graduate students. She added that she witnessed worry turn to panic as she and her friends watched the Palisades fire grow, but she said she was not particularly bothered by the fire and had no plans to evacuate.
“They’re moving around because they have nowhere to stay, so they try to make some small trips,” Céspedes Berdonces said. “I decided to stay because I’m really not that bothered.”
Undergraduate Students Association Council President Adam Tfayli said in a written statement Thursday that UCLA Residential Life estimated more than 5,000 students had voluntarily left their dorms Wednesday night alone, despite the campus not having been instructed to evacuate. A line of cars stretched down De Neve Drive on Wednesday as students packed their bags and drove away.

[Related: LIVE: January 2025 fires]
What separated the UCHA residents were their destinations, as many struggled to figure out where they would stay if forced to leave.
Finlay Bryden, a fourth-year physics student from Scotland, said he does not know many people in the United States but is evaluating possible options – from distant family friends to other people’s parents – in case an evacuation is ordered.
“If you see people leaving, you feel that pressure to leave also,” added Vieri Morel, a third-year political science student from France. “What we settled on is, just try and get along with our lives.”

While waiting for an evacuation order, students in the association watched sports, played pool and waited for official instructions.
Darryl Sollerh, UCHA’s executive director, said in a written statement that he sent messages to the community addressing concerns and steps they would take if evacuation became necessary, despite being away from the residential buildings himself Friday.
Sollerh added that residents found the messages helpful for dealing with the pressure of being in an unfamiliar city. An email the UCHA front office sent to residents shortly after 4:30 p.m. Friday told them to evacuate to the Stoner Recreation Center in Sawtelle if the Westwood Recreation Center was also placed under an evacuation warning.
UCHA membership committee chair Kaylee Johnson said an emergency plan was sent out to the community Saturday and that UCHA would coordinate walking groups and personal vehicles to bring residents to the recreation center if needed.
“I wanted to ensure that our members were safe,” Johnson added. “I also wanted to ensure that our members know what to do – because when you have those things, people feel a lot better.”
[Related: Westwood Recreation Center provides shelter, essential resources amid LA fires]
An email to UCLA Housing residents said students who report to Pauley Pavilion or the Tipuana Apartments will be provided transportation in the event of an evacuation order. Tfayli said in an interview Saturday that evacuation assistance will extend beyond UCLA Housing residents to all students.

Laurine Guerra, a third-year political science student from France, said the fires had created a stronger sense of community as international residents processed the situation together. She added that it would normally be unusual to see large groups of students in the building during the middle of the day, but it has become normal since in-person classes were halted.
“At first, you get together because you want to talk about the fire,” Guerra said. “Then you shift and talk about something else, and it becomes normal life.”
[Related: UCLA cancels in-person classes amid Los Angeles fires]
This emphasis on community was echoed by Daniella Vessoaker, a UCLA alumnus and UCHA resident from India. She said that while many members quickly left for friends’ houses, the people who remained tended to be more calm and focused on keeping each other safe.
Joy Zhu, an architecture doctoral student from Hong Kong, said they felt the voluntary evacuations had revealed a lonelier aspect of Westwood.
“I suddenly understood the meaning of what ‘transplant’ means,” Zhu said. “People … don’t feel identification with LA, and they can leave whenever they can. That was a little bit disappointing. And I feel that there is a lack of civic spirit. If it was in Hong Kong, people would come together, at least, to talk and to commiserate about the situation.”
UCLA Extension alumnus Alekhya Ramesh, who is from India, said some UCHA residents were working together to distribute necessities to people displaced by the wildfires. She added that she and her friends had made joint emergency plans and were going to stay together, no matter where they ended up.
“Still, I think there’s a sense of tense in everyone, in ourselves,” Ramesh added. “They’re just putting their brave faces on, but … every now and then, we’re getting alerts and also getting startled because of that.”
Contributing reports from Max Davis-Housefield and Shiv Patel, Daily Bruin staff.