China quake leaves 8,000 monks homeless: state media

Published: 26/04/2010 at 10:50 AM
Online news: Asia

The quake in China's remote northwest has left more than 8,000 monks homeless after damaging nearly 90 monasteries, state media said Monday, as the focus of relief work moved onto resettling survivors.

Authorities in the province of Qinghai said repairing monasteries would be a priority in reconstruction efforts, the state-run China Daily said, nearly two weeks after the 6.9-magnitude earthquake, which killed over 2,200 people.

"By the end of this year, we hope to restore the living quarters of the monasteries for more than 8,000 monks now living in makeshift tents," Leshi, head of Yushu's ethnic and religious affairs committee, was quoted as saying.

More than 23,000 monks and lamas live in hundreds of monasteries in Yushu, a rugged prefecture that sits at an average altitude of 4,000 metres (over 13,000 feet) on the Tibetan plateau.

They played a key role in search and rescue efforts in the region, sifting through rubble for survivors, distributing much-needed food and supplies, and cremating hundreds of bodies to prevent disease.

Many came to help from neighbouring areas but were later urged to go home in what activists said was government unease over their influence in a restive area. Authorities said the move was to avoid hindering relief work.

Yushu was hit by violent riots that began in March 2008 in the Tibetan capital Lhasa after four days of peaceful protests by monks and later swept across the Tibetan plateau.

According to the report, 84 monks were killed in the quake and at least 100 were among the more than 12,000 injured.

Leshi further promised that as well as being fixed, the monasteries would also be upgraded to include running water, electricity and Internet access within two to three years.

Tibet scense

We can reject everything else: religion, ideology, all received wisdom. But we cannot escape the necessity of love and compassion....
This, then, is my true religion, my simple faith. In this sense, there is no need
for temple or church, for mosque or synagogue, no need for complicated philosophy, doctrine or dogma. Our own heart, our own mind, is the temple.
The doctrine is compassion. Love for others and respect for their rights and dignity, no matter who or what they are: ultimately these are all we need.
So long as we practice these in our daily lives, then no matter if we are learned or unlearned, whether we believe in Buddha or God, or follow some other religion or none at all, as long as we have compassion for others and conduct ourselves with restraint out of a sense of responsibility, there is no doubt we will be happy.


~ Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama ~

Day of mourning for China's earthquake victims

BEIJING (Reuters) - Horns and sirens sounded and crowds bowed their heads in mourning on Wednesday in the western Chinese province where an earthquake a week ago devastated the heavily Tibetan county of Yushu.

The official death toll from the magnitude 6.9 quake that shook a remote, mountainous corner of Qinghai province last Wednesday has reached 2,064, with 175 people still missing, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Most of the dead were ethnic Tibetans in Yushu's main town of Gyegu, about 4,000 meters (13,000 feet) above sea level on the wind-swept Tibetan highlands.

At 10 a.m. (0200 GMT), ranks of residents, troops and officials in Qinghai's provincial capital Xining bowed their heads for three minutes while sirens and horns sounded in a gesture of grief, according to Chinese state television footage.

Television also showed the nine members of ruling Communist Party's Politburo Standing Committee, led by President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, with their heads bowed.

In Gyegu, residents and Buddhist monks assembled on a hill above the town where hundreds of victims' bodies were cremated last week, said Nami, one of the many Tibetan monks who has joined relief work there.

"We went to remember them, but now we have to focus on helping the survivors and rebuilding Gyegu," he said by telephone. "People are very sad. They will be for a long time."

Chinese national flags across the country were kept at half-mast and entertainment activities and programs have been cut for the day.

On central Tiananmen Square in Beijing, hundreds of citizens stood, heads bowed. Tourists on the square continued as normal.

The earthquake has been the latest heavy blow to this huge country where tremors, floods and droughts often strike. A quake rocked the southwestern province of Sichuan in May 2008, killing at least 80,000 people, with thousands more unaccounted for and most likely dead.

But China's government has also used the disaster to demonstrate its ability to use its growing power and resources to surmount disasters, and to rally citizens around a patriotic message of national unity.

(Reporting by Chris Buckley and Huang Yan; Editing by Benjamin Kang Lim and Ron Popeski)

Rare rescue as China quake toll nears 2,000

JIEGU, April 19 (AFP) - Relief supplies poured into a remote Tibetan region Monday as an elderly woman and four-year-old girl were rescued from the rubble five days after a quake that has killed nearly 2,000 people.

Chinese authorities ramped up the disaster response, clogging roads leading into Qinghai province with truckloads of food, tents and quilts, but warned that icy weather could bring more misery in the days ahead.

In a rare bit of good news, rescuers pulled Wujin Cuomao, 68, and the young Cairen Baji out of a collapsed building in the town of Jiegu, after relatives kept them alive by passing food and water into the debris.

State television broadcast images of a healthy looking but anxious Wujin Cuomao being lifted onto a stretcher, while another rescue worker clad in orange was shown cradling the girl in his arms in an emergency vehicle.

Both appeared to be ethnic Tibetans, who make up more than 90 percent of the Chinese region's people.

Hundreds of kilometres away, AFP journalists saw convoys of military trucks, civilian aid vehicles and ambulances heading to the disaster area on the Tibetan plateau, which is known as the "Roof of the World".

The convoys will be a welcome sight after authorities warned at the weekend that clothing, food and water remained in short supply, as Chinese President Hu Jintao visited the zone.

The quake region is a rugged zone at an elevation of around 4,000 metres (13,00 feet), factors that government officials have blamed for hindering response efforts.

State news agency Xinhua said the death toll had risen to 1,944 with 216 still missing after the quake, which struck last Wednesday with a magnitude of 6.9 and also injured 12,135 people and left tens of thousands homeless.

Of the injured, 1,434 were said to be in serious condition.

In Jiegu, Tibetan monks in their maroon robes continued to take a lead role in the emergency response, helping to clear the debris of flattened structures and distribute food to residents.

At the Jiegu monastery perched on foothills overlooking the town, around 50 monks loaded bottles of water and instant noodles into a truck bound for quake-hit villages.

Poor weather was forecast for the next three days. Intermittent rain and snow have added to the suffering of victims sleeping outside in frigid weather after thousands of homes collapsed.

"Snow, icy roads and sudden high winds on some roads threaten transportation and relief work," the National Meteorological Centre said.

Rescuers and survivors also face frequent aftershocks, with more than 1,200 shaking the region since the main quake struck.

To head off risks of deadly disease outbreaks, the bodies of hundreds of quake victims were cremated outside Jiegu on Saturday on a massive funeral pyre piled high with naked corpses and set ablaze by chanting Buddhist monks.

President Hu toured the quake zone a day later, comforting residents and calling on rescuers to keep searching for survivors.

Experts say the chances of finding trapped victims alive following such disasters drop off sharply after the first 72 hours.

"I assure you that the (communist) party and the government will definitely help quake victims rebuild homes and resume classes for children as soon as possible," Hu told a local Tibetan in images broadcast on state television.

The Dalai Lama -- Tibet's exiled spiritual leader who was born in Qinghai and later fled the Himalayan region after a failed anti-Chinese uprising in 1959 -- has appealed to the government to let him visit the victims.

Tibetans in Jiegu expressed hope the Dalai Lama would be allowed into the region, but the request looked unlikely to be granted by China, which has branded the Nobel Peace Prize winner a separatist.

China quake response ramps up with supplies

By AFP
Published Monday, April 19, 2010

Relief supplies poured into China's quake zone in a remote Tibetan region Monday as the disaster response ramped up, but authorities warned icy weather could bring more misery in days ahead.

An AFP journalist saw roads leading into the earthquake-shattered town of Jiegu in northwestern China clogged with ambulances and trucks carrying food, tents and quilts for victims of a disaster that killed at least 1,706 people.

As the long queue of vehicles inched into Jiegu, the main population centre in the quake zone in Qinghai province, rescuers continued to painstakingly search through huge piles of rubble for more survivors.

Officials have said another 256 people were still missing after last Wednesday's strong 6.9 magnitude quake, which also injured 12,000 people and left tens of thousands homeless.

Hundreds of kilometres away, AFP journalists saw convoys of military trucks and civilian aid vehicles heading to the disaster area on the Tibetan plateau known as the "Roof of the World".

The quake-stricken region sits high up in a rugged region at an elevation of around 4,000 metres (13,00 feet), which government officials have blamed for hindering efforts to reach victims.

The convoys will no doubt be a welcome sight after authorities warned at the weekend that clothing, food and drink remained in short supply in the quake zone, whose population is more than 90 percent ethnic Tibetan.

In town, Tibetan monks in their maroon and saffron robes continued to take a lead role in the emergency response, helping to clear the debris of flattened houses and buildings and distribute food to residents.

At the Jiegu monastery perched on foothills overlooking the town, around 50 monks loaded bottles of water and instant noodles on to a truck bound for quake-hit villages.

A brilliant sun shone on the town Monday but poor weather was forecast for the next three days.

Intermittent rain and snow have added to the suffering of victims sleeping outside in freezing weather after thousands of homes collapsed.

"Snow, icy roads and sudden high winds on some roads threaten transportation and relief work," the National Meteorological Centre said.

The weather concerns add to other difficulties faced by rescuers and survivors, such as aftershocks.

The disaster relief headquarters said the region had been seen more than 1,200 aftershocks, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

To heed off risks of deadly disease outbreaks, the bodies of hundreds of quake victims were cremated outside Jiegu on Saturday, on a massive funeral pyre piled high with naked corpses and set ablaze by chanting Buddhist monks.

Chinese President Hu Jintao visited the quake zone a day later, comforting residents and calling on rescuers to keep searching for survivors, despite fading hopes of finding anyone alive under the rubble.

"I assure you that the Party and the government will definitely help quake victims rebuild homes and resume classes for children as soon as possible," he told a local Tibetan in images broadcast on state television.

The Dalai Lama - Tibet's exiled spiritual leader who was born in Qinghai and later fled the Himalayan region after a failed anti-Chinese uprising in 1959 - has appealed to the government to let him visit the victims.

Tibetans in Jiegu expressed hope the Dalai Lama would be allowed into the region, but request looked unlikely to be granted by China, which has branded the Nobel Peace Prize winner a separatist.

Flood of aid reaches China's remote quake zone

By ANITA CHANG (AP)

JIEGU, China — Badly needed aid finally is arriving in a remote western China town shattered by an earthquake, including enough food and shelter for tens of thousands of suddenly homeless, though some complained it wasn't reaching everyone in need.

The surge in aid coincided with the arrival Sunday of Chinese President Hu Jintao, who cut short an official trip to South America to deal with the disaster in this remote Tibetan region where residents have frequently chafed under Chinese rule. The quake Wednesday killed 1,706 people and injured 12,128.

The president's carefully scripted trip included visits with displaced families living in tents and rescue teams as they dug through debris looking for the 256 still missing. He promised that the Communist Party and the government was doing everything they could. Tibetan anger over political and religious restrictions and perceived economic exploitation by the majority Han Chinese have sometimes erupted in violence.

China Central Television showed Hu sitting with a Tibetan middle school student at a field hospital and comforting her as she wept. Her right arm was bandaged and supported by a sling.

"Rest assured, you will have a full recovery," he told the girl. "You will have a bright future. Grandpa will be thinking of you."

Hu and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who visited Jiegu on Thursday, have both cultivated compassionate, grandfatherly images to portray the leadership as putting people first.

From 1988 to 1992, Hu was the party boss of Tibet, which neighbors Qinghai province where the earthquake struck, and he has a mixed reputation among ethnic Tibetans. A hardline governor, he oversaw the imposition of martial law in Tibet in 1989 after anti-government violence erupted there. As the country's top leader, he has maintained a firm line on dissent while also championing policies that have funneled billions of dollars in aid and investment to Tibetan areas.

On Sunday, after days of sleeping in makeshift shelters, with ice forming on blankets during the frigid nights, nearly all survivors finally had proper tents and enough food and clean water to last at least a few days.

The sudden bounty appeared to come in the nick of time. Relief workers had warned that Jiegu was teetering on the edge of unrest, with people fighting over tents and other limited goods. Bottlenecks on the winding mountain road that links Jiegu to the provincial capital of Xining — normally a 12-hour drive — were blamed for the earlier trickle of supplies.

Zou Ming, head of disaster relief at the Ministry of Civil Affairs, told a news conference in Beijing that most survivors now had tents, basic food and clean water.

Government-issued blue tents that were sparsely dotted around town in recent days popped up in abundance on Sunday. Some families set them up next to the ruins of their flattened mud brick homes. Others pitched theirs on a horse racing track turned refugee camp, the largest of several tent cities in Jiegu.

In one corner of the track was Genyao, 65, and his more than 20 family members. He pushed back the flap of one of their four tents to reveal two dozen cases of water, instant noodles and canned meat. Nearby, two blackened pots bubbled on top of a stove made from concrete blocks.

"It's manageable. The country cares about us," said Genyao, who goes by one name, a smile creasing his weather-beaten face. But, he pointed out, "The pots, the blankets, those we pulled out of the rubble of our house ourselves."

China Central Television showed Hu visiting a similar scene, the camera panning over stacks of food boxes and a crate of water in the corner.

"I guarantee the party and the government will help you build a new home and make sure your children can return to school as soon as possible," Hu said to a Tibetan man who grasped the president's hand and bowed his head repeatedly, saying "Thank you, thank you."

A few remained left out. A 43-year-old Tibetan man who refused to give his name said he and 15 other relatives were still living under tarps strung between wooden beams. He said others were stockpiling tents to sell and intimidating people like him who lined up to get them for free. He said his neighbor ended up paying 600 yuan ($90) for one.

"We're locals and we can't even get a tent," he said. "It's people from out of town who are taking tents."

To prevent such stockpiling and other problems, authorities Sunday were delivering aid to sites run by a specific county or town in the region, and residents originally from those places could register and get supplies there.

The system meant however that some people, particularly migrants, had no fixed aid station to go to.

Liu Shuzhen, a construction worker from neighboring Gansu province, was among those falling through the cracks. Liu, her husband and their four-year-old son were sleeping on plastic sheeting with a few tattered blankets pulled from the rubble.

She crouched in the blowing dust at the racetrack, guarding a battered box with a few bread rolls and bottles of water that Tibetan Buddhist monks had thrown down from a passing truck.

"When President Hu comes, maybe they'll hand out relief supplies and we could get some," Liu, 29, said hopefully, her right eye black from when the family's one-room home collapsed as they slept. But Hu's expected visit to the racetrack didn't happen and the family was preparing to sleep another night in the cold.

Tibetans Burn Piles of Bodies

CBS News

With their faces covered, Tibetan monks burned piles of bodies wrapped in blankets as the area was overwhelmed with the remains of victims of the 7.1-magnitude earthquake that rocked China this week. Traditionally, Tibetans cut their dead into pieces and leave the remains to be consumed by vultures in “sky burials.” "There are not enough vultures for all these bodies, so the bodies will become very dirty and it is not good for the souls to rest in peace," a monk said. "Therefore, we think the mass cremation is the best funeral for all these earthquake victims." The monks weren’t sure how many bodies were burned. The death toll in western China rose to 1,339, with 332 still missing, even as one survivor was pulled from the rubble three days after the disaster. The Dalai Lama said he wanted to visit the site; the spiritual leader fled Tibet in 1959 and has not returned. He praised Chinese officials for their quick response to the quake. Relief supplies must be trucked in from the Qinghai provincial capital, 12 hours away.