2010 Yushu (Kyegundo) Earthquake Appeal

Earthquake in Tibet: 2,700 dead, 100,000 homeless

Please donate now to help us supply food, clothing and shelter

On 14th April, at 8am local time, a massive earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale, struck Yushu (Kyegundo) county in Qinghai province, eastern Tibet. As reports filed in describing utter devastation in this already extremely poor remote area - the rising death toll, that thousands were left homeless and the region’s infrastructure completely destroyed - Tibet Relief Fund set up an immediate emergency online appeal to help survivors. We were overwhelmed by the generosity of our supporters worldwide. Thank you so much if you have already contributed; we have already been able to distribute £5,000 of urgent aid to survivors. However, three months on the people of Yushu are still in desperate need.

The situation is dire. Every family in the region has lost friends and relatives; the majority of survivors have lost their homes and have few remaining belongings. Over 100,000 people are sleeping outdoors or in lightweight tents, with little or no lighting, healthcare or cooking facilities. As overnight temperatures drop below zero, with snow and strong winds, shortages of food, fuel, and medical supplies, there are major concerns for the vulnerable and injured and anxiety about sanitation and spread of disease.

The need for both short-term and long-term aid is monumental; we desperately need your help. In these unimaginable conditions, despite the valiant efforts and generosity of Tibetan, Chinese and international donors, there is a major lack of basic vital necessities. Long-term prospects for survivors are equally bleak; with little or no remaining accommodation, education, healthcare or opportunities to provide an income. We are working closely with other organisations on the ground to assess the most critical needs; and as a result of our findings, are initially looking to raise a further £25,000.

Background:

The earthquake struck a poor remote area, predominately high altitude grassland, crossed with mountain ranges and deep river valleys, in the north-east of the Tibetan Plateau. Life here was already very harsh for the local Tibetans, mainly herdsmen and nomads, as they struggled against extreme poverty. The earthquake’s epicentre was at the base of the valleys, where Yushu Town, the prefecture’s capital and only major town of the region, is situated. Villages up to tens of kilometres away were also devastated; around 85 per cent of the buildings – mostly traditionally mud brick built – were flattened and in some villages, it is reported 99 per cent of buildings collapsed.

In the blink of an eye, 100,000 people were left without a home. But these were the lucky ones as family homes, hostels and, tragically, many schools and orphanages collapsed with their residents trapped inside. One of our contacts in the area told us that many homes had a layer of thick, clear plastic under the roof to insulate and protect their households from water and dust. As the buildings collapsed, many people died by suffocation as they were trapped under the plastic sheeting, unable to breathe.

In total nearly 2,700 people were killed in the quake and 12,000 injured. As the dust settled, chaos ensued as shell-shocked and injured survivors desperately tried to pull people from the wreckage, search for their relatives and friends and find medical aid. As night fell, people slept in the streets, their possessions gone, without shelter.

As the days went on, people continued to live like this; orphans, elderly people, parents who had lost children and spouses spending the days crying, bewildered, trying to find out what had happened to their loved ones, needing food and medical attention. They still had to sleep in the streets without shelter, with strong storms and snow making the sub-freezing night time conditions unbearable.

Every person in the region lost someone from their extended family.

As you may have seen in news reports, scores of monks piled in from monasteries throughout the region to help residents rescue survivors and dig out dead bodies from collapsed homes and buildings. The Chinese government and army sent in rescue teams to help; and urgent aid began arriving from local communities across the region, with truckloads of supplies arriving from Tibetan and Chinese people from surrounding areas. But downed phonelines, collapsed bridges and storms hampered the rescue efforts, with a series of aftershocks further damaging roads, triggering landslides and crippling power supplies.

As the days went on, people relocated from the streets to the large open plateau ‘horse festival ground’ west of the town, where thousands of blue tents supplied by the Chinese government were filled with bereft and injured survivors, struggling to breathe in the dust filled air, while storm winds blew down their tents, scattering their few possessions.

Today the situation in Yushu remains unimaginably desperate for hundreds of thousands of survivors. Tibet Relief Fund urgently needs help to provide both short-term emergency aid for food, shelter and basic needs, and funding to begin reconstruction of homes and infrastructure.

As you can imagine, working in this remote region is very difficult. Tibet Relief Fund has been co-ordinating closely with organisations already working in the area who have local experience and contacts and who are carrying out detailed short-term and long-term needs assessments. In this way we are ensuring funds are transferred to where they are most urgently needed and will have effective impact.

Short-term needs:
Amongst the rubble and grief in Yushu now, an enormous tragedy is unfolding, with many thousands of people in need of urgent help just to survive the coming months. The short-term needs are seemingly immeasurable, but we have prioritised some of the most vital requirements based on the needs assessments carried out on the ground. These show the most pressing need is for food, clothing, tents, stoves and cooking facilities, blankets and basic hygiene kits.

We have been approached with a specific urgent request to supply supplementary foods including tsampa (roasted barley flour, a nutritious and traditional Tibetan staple food that will keep for months), butter and tea for nearly 3,000 families - including many elderly and young children.

We have also been asked to supply food and clothing for many destitute and orphaned children from some of the area’s primary schools. Many of these children have lost everything – they are urgently in need of clothing to last them for the foreseeable future.

Until shelters can be rebuilt, tents will provide the sole accommodation for surviving families; this will be for at least six months and quite probably through next winter. Whilst the government has supplied tents for each family officially registered in Yushu, we have reports of 15,000 unregistered Tibetans in the area currently without any form of shelter, including many hundreds of elderly people. And even with the government supplied tents there is urgent concern as the tents’ nylon-like material is already proving inadequate and will not last into the winter. Moreover, the fabric will quickly melt if a stove is placed inside the tent (which will be necessary in winter). As winter approaches there is a vital need to replace these already desperately overcrowded tents with durable canvas ones; as well as provide stoves and solar lighting.  

A small bag of basic toiletries including soap and a nit-comb, will cost just £2.50 and help keep disease at bay. A £10 blanket will keep out the cold, and a £15 set of kitchen utensils and bowls means a family can cook and store the little food they have.

Long-term needs:
In addition to short-term aid to sustain lives now, we have to look to the future and ensure survivors have shelter, healthcare and an income to survive in the coming months, and years ... we have to help build the foundations of a sustainable future for the devastated people of Yushu.

Whilst the Chinese government is working on long-term plans to re-establish infrastructure and re-building, Tibet Relief Fund is working with other organisations on the ground to ‘fill in the gaps’; particularly in the more remote townships and villages, ensuring vulnerable groups’ specific needs are met.

With your help, we will enable the men, women and children of Yushu to look forward to a self-sufficient future, with their own homes, where children can be educated, where there is self-sustainable employment, and where medical facilities are available.

As you can imagine, the scale of this long-term operation is immense and due to extreme weather conditions, high altitude, poor transportation infrastructure, high construction costs and insufficient power supply, it will take time. Whilst it will be many weeks before we can itemise the full details and costs involved in rebuilding sustainable housing, healthcare, educational facilities and infrastructure, the planning and groundwork is in progress. However, what we do know is the costs involved in rebuilding Yushu will amount to many hundreds of thousands of pounds. Tibet Relief Fund has a duty to help enable this rebuilding as soon as possible.

Please help us if you can. We will use funds from this appeal where they are most needed for either short or long-term aid for Yushu. Below are short-term costed requirements (we cannot emphasise enough the scale and need for these items):

£10 can pay for four basic hygiene kits or one warm blanket

£15 can pay for one 40kg sack of tsampa (barley flour) to feed a destitute family for weeks. A further £15 will provide a set of kitchen utensils and bowls

£50 can pay for a full set of warm protective clothing – coat, shirt, trousers, shoes, underwear – and a bag, for one destitute or orphaned primary school child over the uncertain future months

£100 can pay for one large durable canvas tent to provide shelter over the bitter winter months

£200 can pay for one large durable canvas tent, plus a stove and a solar light; to provide shelter, heat, light and cooking facilities for one family

Please give what you can. Thank you.

We will keep you updated on details of both emergency and restructuring work being undertaken.

Please donate now to help give the surviving Tibetan people of Yushu (Kyegundo) county a future.

 

 

23.04.2010. 09:23