On the 21st day after the Kyigudo earthquake, Tibetans and Friends of Tibet yesterday sent out desperate pleas for help and asked the Dalai Lama to visit and comfort victims.
Kyigudo, known as Yushu in Mandarin, is located in a mountainous area in the southern part of Qinghai Province and is home to about 250,000 mostly Tibetan people.
On April 14, Kyigudo was struck by a magnitude 6.9 earthquake.
While the official death toll from the Chinese government stands at approximately 2,200 people, the actual death toll remains unclear, as international rescue teams and the international press have not been allowed into the area, said Chow Mei-li (周美里), chairperson of Taiwan Friends of Tibet, at a press conference yesterday.
She said “the truth behind the Kyigudo earthquake” is that 85 percent of the buildings in the area have collapsed because of the earthquake and the actual death toll is estimated to be at least 12,000 and continues to climb, according to testimony from those who have actually been to the disaster area.
Kirti Dolkar Lhamo, president of the Tibetan Women's Association, said that Tibetan victims of the earthquake are now living on instant noodles and canned food, which are not a part of their staple diet.
At least 100,000 people have been made homeless by the disaster and thousands of children have become orphans because their parents died in the earthquake.
“The military did not arrive until a day and a half after the earthquake. When they finally made it, they didn’t bring any machines or tools,” said Ngawang Woebar, president of the 9-10-3 Movement and a former political prisoner.
“We don’t have enough doctors, and the few doctors there are having trouble communicating with the victims because many people do not speak Chinese,” he said.
However, he said that although the victims desperately need food, water, medical supplies and shelter, what they want even more is to have the Dalai Lama come and pray for them.
“The Dalai Lama wants to go there, but the Chinese government does not allow this,” he said.
The Friends of Tibet and the Regional Youth Tibetan Conference said that the region is in desperate need of help and hoped that political issues could be put aside in such a time of turmoil.
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