Emergency Disasters Appeal
We are witnessing many natural disasters all over the world and especially recently in Asia. Tibet Foundation would like to highlight those that have happened in remote areas - Ladakh in north India and Zhouqu (Drukchu) in Tibet.
Although receiving little publicity or media coverage, these disasters have caused immense suffering to the population and untold damage to their property. The Foundation would like to do whatever we can to help the people of Ladakh and Zhouqu.
Tibet Foundation has pledged to raise £40,000 to help the victims of this devastation. We would like to request our members to contribute generously to the urgent appeals below.
Ladakh Appeal
Two devastating cloud bursts followed by unprecedented rains in the early hours of August 6th caused mudslides and flash floods in Leh, the capital of Ladakh.
Adjoining areas were also affected including Choglamsar, home to many Tibetans and their educational institutes, monasteries and nunneries. The floods in this hill town washed away hundreds of houses leaving thousands of people homeless, and also a vast area of farmland destroyed.
To date, 139 people have been reported killed with more than 500 injured and many more missing. Three policemen are reported to have lost their lives and 25 army personnel are missing. Thousands of residents in Leh abandoned their homes for fear of further mudslides and are currently living in the open air despite the cold.
Reports received indicate that vast areas of agricultural land have been destroyed, seriously jeopardizing the livelihood of many poor farmers who are now in a desperate situation.
The heads of three local villages and the nearby monastery have approached Tibet Foundation for financial help. Funds are urgently needed to remove mud and stones from fields so that farms can be made ready for the next season before the arrival of sub-zero temperatures.
Tibet Foundation has already set up a Ladakh Relief Fund, pledging to raise £20,000 as an expression of our concern and sympathy for the people of Ladakh. Our field officer in India, Samdup Tsering, together with Lama Lekshey, director of the Sakya Centre, are already in communication with the local people and community leaders to assess the urgent emergency needs.
Please consider making an immediate donation to this fund.
Whatever you can afford will, at the very least, represent our solidarity with the people in Ladakh and make a practical difference on the ground. Your support is crucial at this time.
Zhouqu (Drukchu) Appeal
In the early hours of 8th August torrential rains, catastrophic landslides and flooding struck Zhouqu (Drukchu) County in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, leaving more than 1,200 dead, 500 missing and extensive destruction to property.
It is reported that 7,000 soldiers, fire-fighters and medical staff have been deployed in the relief and epidemic control efforts. Many buildings are buried under the mud and over 1,000 homes have been destroyed.
Hearing of the disaster that morning during a visit to Yushu, Phuntsog Wangyal immediately contacted the authorities in Beijing and conveyed our deepest condolences and sympathy to the people of Zhouqu on behalf of Tibet Foundation.
Our field officer in Tibet, Sonam Wangchen, is in contact with the authorities that are fully cooperating with our work. However, bad weather and further landslides are hindering the relief effort. As a result, the process of assessing the situation on the ground is taking longer than expected.
Tibet Foundation has pledged to raise £20,000 towards helping the people of Drukchu. They desperately need your support. Please help them by sending a donation to the Foundation today.
Thank you.
Tibet Foundation, 2 St James’s Market, London SW1Y 4SB
Tel: +44 20 7930 6001
Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Zhouqu (Drukchu) Flood Appeal
Torrential rains, landslides and flooding have struck Zhouqu (Drukchu) County in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, leaving over 1,200 dead and 490 missing.
Catastrophic landslides, flooding and large scale loss of human life and destruction to property in Zhouqu (Drukchu) County of Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture that struck the weekend of August 7th-8th have left over 1,200 people dead and almost 500 still missing.
So far 45,000 people have been evacuated 7,000 soldiers, fire-fighters and medical staff have been deployed in the relief and epidemic control efforts 300 buildings are buried in mud and over 1,000 homes have been destroyed with approximately 3,000 severely flooded.
Hearing of the disaster on the morning of the 8th August during a visit to Yushu, Phuntsog Wangyal immediately contacted the authorities in Beijing and conveyed our deepest condolences and sympathy to the people of Zhouqu on behalf of Tibet Foundation.
Phuntsog has now returned to London and will host an illustrated talk about his visit to Yushu on Thursday September 9th from 7-9pm at The Conference Room, St James Church, 197 Piccadilly, W1V-0LL. All those interested in the work of the Foundation and in particular the Foundation’s Aid to Tibet programme are warmly welcome. Entrance is free.
Please make your cheque payable to Tibet Foundation (Drukchu Flood)
And post to:
Tibet Foundation
2 St. James's Market
London SW1Y 4SB
United Kingdon
Enquiries: +44 (0)207 930 6001
Please download the full update PDF here
Yushu Earthquake Appeal and News Highlights
As of 20 May 2010, Tibet Foundation has received a total sum of £ 96,898.03 – raised both online and offline.
This amount includes donations received from individual supporters and donor organisations (raised from their members/network for Yushu Earthquake relief efforts). A big ‘Thugjey Chey’ to all of you who have donated to the Yushu Earthquake Relief Fund, through Tibet Foundation or other organizations.
Our Appeal target for the period (May 2010 - May 2015) is GBP 1 million and our medium to long terms projects will focus in the areas of education, health and poverty relief for the most vulnerable sections of the population in Yushu.
Please donate and encourage your friends to help us achieve the appeal target in the coming months and years as we develop and present concrete, project proposals. So far, we have donated GBP 15,000 towards the purchase of 1,000 woollen blankets to schools and the elderly. (see update of 27th April). In the coming few weeks and months, we are considering releasing a second instalment of funding for emergency relief project in and around Kyegudo.
The Government has begun the rebuilding and rehabilitation projects with the declared aim of making the new Kyegudo ‘an ecological tourist city’. But due to extreme weather conditions, high altitude, poor transportation infrastructure, high construction costs, and insufficient power supply, it will take time. Tibet Foundation will seek to fill gaps in the assistance to communities in the more remote townships and villages and in terms of special requirements for vulnerable groups.
The death toll from a 7.1-magnitude earthquake in Kyegudo (Yushu) that devastated the township and surrounding areas has climbed to 2,203, and 12,000 injured including more than 1,000 in serious conditions according to the Rescue Headquarters in Qinghai.
Many badly injured and traumatised orphans and semi-orphans have been brought at the Children’s Hospital in Xining, the capital city of Qinghai. Akhu Gyamtsho has been voluntarily coordinating aid and visits to offer comfort, friendship, love and affection and presents to these children.
The little girl in hospital, aged ten, has lost her parents and sister in the earthquake. She and others like her are being comforted by caring visitors with presents, toys and cash gifts. Her surviving grandparents are too poor to afford to come to visit her from Yushu, a distance of 800 kms. She says, “I want to send all of 200 yuan I have to my folks back home in Yushu.” The reporter chokes, and with tears of empathy offers to give all help get her grandparents to visit her.
Local Tibetans, monks, nuns and Tibetan students from the Minority Nationalities University in Xining have been coming to give them company, encouragement, hope and cheer to cope with their mental anguish, loss of parents and loved ones and severe physical and mental trauma.
With fresh memory of the catastrophic earthquake of Wenchuan in 2008, the Chinese Government and people mobilized various relief efforts and fund raising. Both Premier Wen Jiabao and Chairman Hu Jintao cut short official duties to visit Yushu and promised to rebuild the town and rehabilitate the people. That will take time and the people of Yushu await with patience and forebearance and hope.
A major fund raising Gala night organized by China Central TV with China Red Cross has raised 2.1 billions yuans. Ten-year Tsering Dhondup was honoured at the charity event for his voluntary services as an interpreter during the emergency medical treatment in Yushu. There was a shortage of bilingual speakers during the early stage of emergency relief work. He broke down when singing the verse by the Sixth Dalai Lama, “O White crane, Lend me your wings, I shall not go far, From Lithang, I shall return”, perhaps, realizing that many of his near and dear ones who had perished in the earthquake will never return.
Tibetan monks were at the forefront of the rescue effort. Wang Yuhu, Governor of Yushu is quoted as saying. “Actually, we are very grateful for the role Tibetan monks played in the relief effort.” China Daily (official state media) had a front page describing how crucial the monks were to the relief process: “Hundreds, if not thousands, of Tibetan Buddhist monks in crimson cloaks and jackets have joined the soldiers and rescue workers since the afternoon of April 14.”
“A total of 900 monks from local monasteries alone have joined in the rescue and relief work. The first group arrived at epicentre at 4 pm, a few hours after the earthquake happened. We rescued more than 700 survivors, and helped find more than 1,000 bodies under the ruins.” Wang said.
Sershul Monastery in Kandze Prefecture has donated 11.27 million yuan (£1.27 million) to quake-hit Yushu County on Friday, including 10 million yuan from the temple’s head lama, Tripa Rinpoche. “We had planned to use the money to repair our temple, but now, it is our responsibility to donate it,” Tripa Rinpoche said, “I see so many Han people and Tibetans carrying out the rescue and relief effort together, and I am deeply touched by them,” he said.
Tibetans from all regions, far and near had mobilized themselves to donate whatever meagre resources they had: money, tsampa, butter, cheese, yaks, sheep and goats. A single Tibetan nomad family from Arig has donated 200 sheep. A group of ten Tibetan traders have raised over a 1 million yuan. Even school children, both Tibetan and Han, have held events to raise funds for Yushu.
Whereas the Government will go ahead with the major task of infrastructure building and development planning on a long term scale, charities like Tibet Foundation, can contribute in targeted areas of need in consultation with local, regional and central Governments. Internationally, Tibetans in diaspora as well as Tibet related NGOs sympathetic to Tibet and other charitable organisations have started raising funds for the victims of Yushu Earthquake. Everyone will have roles and contributoins to make to the rebuilding and rehabilitation work ahead.
Tibet Foundation formed the Yushu Earthquake Relief Committee (YERC) on Monday, 19 April 2010 in the presence of representatives from UK based Tibet-related charities and organisations with the aim of supervising, monitoring, accounting and reporting the proper utilisation of the funds for the victims of Yushu Earthquake. Periodic reports and statements of accounts of the aid projects in Yushu will be made available at the completion of each project.
We appeal for patience and continued support and generous donations in the coming months and years. Together we can make a big difference to the rebuilding and rehabilitation of the Kyegudo.
Yushu Earthquake Relief Committee
Tibet Foundation
2 St James’s Market
London SW1Y 4SB
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 207 930 6001
Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)