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Questions Over Quake Toll in Tibet |
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Written by Willy Lam
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Tuesday, 20 April 2010 |
 The dead in the Qinghai earthquake appear to be far more than
authorities admit to
Even as search-and-rescue operations over the Qinghai earthquake enter
their second week, question marks have been raised over the death toll –
and Beijing's overall handling of the worst natural disaster to have
hit China since the devastating Sichuan earthquake two years ago.
Tibetan
lamas who are responsible for the burial of quake victims told
reporters from several Hong Kong papers and TV stations that at least
8,000 Qinghai residents had perished. As of Monday night, however, the
official death toll stood at 1,944 dead and 216 missing.
Since
Yushu, the county worst hit by the tremors, is a predominantly Tibetan
area, lamas from Qinghai and neighboring Tibet have been active in
rescue work and particularly burial ceremonies. Senior Tibetan lama
Angwen Danba Renqing told Hong Kong journalists that his monastery alone
had by last Sunday cremated 3,400 corpses.
The lama
said he knew of several hundred bodies being stowed in other
monasteries. Angwen Danba Renqing reckoned the death toll for Yushu
alone was "in the region of 8,000 to 9,000." Hong Kong's mass
circulation Ming Pao also quoted an official from the People's
Procuratorate as saying total casualties in Yushu could reach upwards of
10,000.
The real scale of the tragedy – and the fact
that it has taken place close to the opening of the Shanghai World Expo
on May 1 – probably explains why two members of the Communist Party
Politburo Standing Committee (PBSC), Hu Jintao and Li Changchun, cut
short their overseas visits to return to China.
Political
sources in Beijing said the leadership's main concern is that the
natural disaster not exacerbate ethnic tension in Tibet and Xinjiang.
Discussion at the Politburo meeting convened on April 17 – four days
after the quake – centered on confining the political fallout to Yushu
and its immediate vicinity.
A brief report by the official
Xinhua News Agency noted that the PBSC urged cadres from relevant
departments "to boost efforts in defusing social contradictions, to
strengthen work relating to law and order, to ensure social stability in
the disaster zones, and to promote unity among the nationalities as
well as stability among the people."
Perhaps with a view
to curbing "social contradictions," the Party's Propaganda Department
issued clear-cut instructions to major media on how to cover the
disaster. The day after the quake, Chinese newspapers and websites were
told to focus on "positive" developments, particularly how soldiers,
cops, People's Armed Police, fire-fighters and other personnel Beijing
has deployed to Qinghai have done a heroic job amidst low-oxygen and
sub-zero conditions in the highlands.
Chinese media,
however, are told to play down the helpful role played by lamas. In
particular, no reference should be made to the dubious qualities of
classroom and official buildings in Yushu. PBSC member Li, who is
China's propaganda czar, was quoted by Xinhua as calling on the media to
"assiduously sing the praises of advanced units and model individuals"
who distinguished themselves in the rescue and reconstruction campaign.
"We
must heap praise on the glories of the Communist Party, socialism, the
reform enterprise, and the People's Liberation Army," Li said soon after
returning to China from a European tour.
Despite the
efforts taken by authorities to take good care of Tibetan survivors,
many Yushu residents have complained about the haste with which
authorities have disposed of the bodies through mass cremation. "Sky
burial," an arcane ritual in which the corpse is dissected on hill-tops
and then "cleaned" by birds of prey, has long been the preferred burial
practice. Individual lamas have also asked Hong Kong and foreign
reporters to relay their wish that Chinese authorities should speed up
the repair and reconstruction of monasteries.
In the
aftermath of the Sichuan Earthquake, in which some 70,000 perished, both
Sichuan and central-level officials were criticized for covering up
dozens of so-called tofu school buildings. These shoddily built
classroom structures collapsed like jigsaw puzzles even as more sturdy
buildings nearby sustained only superficial damage.
To this day,
Beijing has refused to disclose either the number of students who died
during the tremors or their names and other personal details. A number
of NGO activists who helped aggrieved parents in Sichuan seek damages
from the authorities, including globally known artist Ai Weiwei, have
been detained or harassed by the authorities. Immediately after the
Sichuan quake, Beijing pledged to check the structures of all school
buildings nationwide and to do required reparations. The Chinese media,
however, have reported that not a single school in Yushu County has been
repaired or reinforced after the Sichuan disaster.
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