Quake hit Yushul

Tibetan living in exile started to hear the earth quake tragedy and casualities from their relatives in Tibet. Jigme Rabten a  Tibetan monk living in south India said: “I received a call from Jyekundo, informing that my sister’s family lost three members including her father- in- law , mother- in- law and a child. The three remaining children along with my sister have survived".


100% of the Tibetan buildings made of mud and stone were collapsed as well as 80% of the concrete buildings were ruined. It is really hard to give a accurate  estimate of the death toll. He was told by relatives
". We could not retrieve the bodies from the rubble immediately after, the quake, our family is adjacent to a military unit and we requested for help from them but didn’t receive immediate help.

We are told that without order from the high up authorities, they could not start the rescue effort. By the time the bodies were able to pull out from the rubble, they were already dead”.

Source from Chamdo in Tibet, confirmed that around 8:00am morning, a slight tremor is felt in Chamdo town. A high school student in Chamdo who wants to remain unnamed sai " When I was heading to school, we felt it and trees were shaken. Some household in Chamdo town felt the tremor and residents were rushed outside and stayed in their courtyard, but there was no further tremor afterward, despite of previous warning. No damage of is reported from Chamdo.  The quake in Jyekundo is a massive, at the time of this entries, the Chinese officials death toll reaches close to 600 and injuries to 10000.

A Tibetan in Newyork said,
that many of the Tibetans in Newyork have their family members killed in the quake in Jyekundo, some lost their fathers, others siblings and so on”.

A source from Jyekundo spoke to our reporter on the phone

“There is a serious earthquake in Jyekundo, We were sleeping this morning, suddenly, there was a slight shake around 6 0’clock. Since there were many similar shakes happened in the past, so we did not pay much attention. Some of us went back to sleep. Then later there was another slight shake and many of us woke up and came out urgently without wearing shoes, some did not wear clothes at all. By this moment, everything what we saw in front of us were collapsed walls and houses. People all ran out to spacious place and mountains. Right now, all of us are standing together in the threshing ground. I heard other sides of areas, like Shehuang, Shetong (other parts of Jyekundo) are very bad. A lot of people are killed and injured too. In our area, many kids are killed and some people are injured too. The worst thing is that the electrical dam (Tregoul dam is the biggest dam built few years ago just next to the town in Jieguduo) got hit and people are saying the water will wash out the majority of the town. It corroborate with other reports  that help did not come forth fast.

a Sichuan Kham Pa dialect TV reporter said “ We are going to report about the quake on the ground , but right now we didn’t have a quick transportation. We translate and report mainly what the Chinese state media reports. We will work hard and able to update more on this”



Tsetan Dolkar’s call in show from Tibet said  “ The quake affected people complained that no instant help arrived, even though the government said to have sent troops. Around 300 monks from various monasteries in Tibet are leaving right now to help. And they are listening more facts from RFA broadcast".

Quake victems urged to call RFA to inform the quake, Rescue workers were all Tibetans.

Caller to RFA said "The Chinese said that they were helping Tibetans but there were not there, when needed most . it is pretty disappointing, as our heart leans toward HH, and we would like to report our situation, especial through RFA. The biggest problem and need for the moment is  more rescue workers, to pull out possible survivals.

This natural calamity is a big tragedy for all Tibetans, and especially those who lost their lives and to the family.   This will test how the Chinese government will respond, will they allow foreign media to cover and have unfettered access, what the Tibetan exiles can do to relief work.
For detailed RFA release look up on http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/quake-04142010115312.html