Yushu Earthquake Relief Efforts

[last updated April 22, 2010]

As many of you probably know by now, an earthquake struck northeastern Tibet during the early morning hours of April 14th. The earthquake had its epicenter about 30km from Jyekundo, the capital of Yushu County in Qinghai Province, China. (Click here for an interactive map, courtesy of THL) While the area is sparsely populated, the reports I’ve seen have indicated that casualties and damage are both pretty extensive. The area is populated primarily by Tibetans, andmany individual family homes have collapsed (originally it was reported that these were mostly built with traditional adobe construction, though I have now heard that most were, in fact, built of cinder blocks with pre-fab concrete roofs). As with the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, many schools collapsed. Currently, over 2,000 people are listed as dead, with over 12,000 injured. The following is an excerpt from a blog post by Losang, of Plateau Perspectives. The full report is well worth reading and has several striking photos.

My family and I were in our 3rd floor apartment building when the earthquake hit. There was a smaller earthquake (around 4.7) that occurred around 4am and neither my wife or I could get back to sleep. When the big quake hit, my wife was using her computer while our younger son Norbu (18 months old) was playing in the living room. Tsering, our older son who is 3 years old, was still asleep in the back bedroom. … Norbu flew across the room when the quake hit. My wife was also violently thrown to the ground. Everything in our apartment began to be tossed around, breaking when it hit the walls or floor. I ran to the back bedroom and grabbed Tsering and grabbed him as my wife grabbed Norbu off the floor. Together, we ran to the door. I paused long enough to grab my shoes, coat and a bit of money. I opened the door and one of our Tibetan neighbors assisted us in carrying Tsering down the 3 flights of stairs to the ground floor. All of us were in just our pajamas. I was the only one of my family who managed to get shoes.

The Associated Press is reporting that large convoys of relief material is finally making it to Jyekundo, just in time for Hu Jintao’s arrival. The New York Times has also been emphasizing the role that monks have played in relief efforts, though I have heard that their report on tensions between monks and police may suggest more tension than there actually is.

The following groups still need assistance. As the relief effort shifts to rebuilding, it is more important than ever that local NGOs and others who know the people and landscape have the resources they need to be effective.

Local NGOs

Snowland Services Group is a Tibetan NGO currently on the ground in Jyekundo. While their own operations were hard hit during the earthquake, and at least one staff member was killed, they are seeking to provide water, food, tents, clothing and bedding. Recently, they have organized a relief consortium in Xining called Yushu Earthquake Response (YER). Other members of this group include Shem Women’s Group [click here for my earlier post on this group], Pentok Institute, Sanchuan Fazhan Cujinhui, Tsong Ka Charity Association and Xiangcun Zhiyou. The organization does not have its own website, yet, but funds donated to the Tibet Village Project will be routed to them, through existing contacts.

Plateau Perspectives is a western NGO also based in Jyekundo, and may be the only western NGO authorized to distribute aid so far. They have many years of experience and contacts in the region and already have gotten at least one team of doctors into Jyekundo, with the government’s blessing. They also have the most fully developed web-presence of these small groups, yushuearthquakerelief.com, a site which now includes video taken just a few minutes after the earthquake hit. Donations cane be made through this site.

Rokpa is an international NGO that runs a school in Jyekundo. I have heard that all of the children survived, though one teacher was killed and the school buildings are in rubble. They are also accepting donations for earthquake relief, though they do not yet have a dedicated website set up. Donations can be made through their general website rokpa.com, and should be noted as being for earthquake relief.

Sichuan Quake Relief is an organization founded to provide relief efforts after the 2008 Sichuan Quake, who have now turned their attention to the Yushu Earthquake. They have managed to get beyond the town of Jyekundo to reach some remote villages, and have found them devastated, with no relief in sight. Donations can be made through their clear and well organized website, sichuan-quake-relief.org.

Gerald and Elena are a pair of foreign workers teaching Tibetans in Xining, the provincial capital. As of April 15th, they had organized at least one truckload of supplies, including blankets, water, food and tents. The total bill for the supplies came to just over $700; proof that small donations really can help. They can be reached through Gerald’s e-mail address: gjroche@gmail.com.

Global NGOs

In my original post, I said that foreign NGOs operate under strict regulations in China, so it was not feasible to donate to large groups like the Red Cross. I have since noticed that both the Red Cross and Mercy Corps are soliciting donations for Yushu Earthquake relief, so presumably they are planning to put relief operations in place as soon as they can. I’m still not sure what kind of red tape they will have to deal with, however. If you are interested in donating to either of these groups, click here: Red Cross, Mercy Corps.

If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail me, and I will do my best to answer, or at least to pass the question along to someone who might be able to answer it.

Thanks to Robbie Barnett, Gray Tuttle, Clay Goforth, Brenton Sullivan, Losang and Tamdin Wangdu for bringing these groups to my attention.