A magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit Tibet on January 7 near the border with Nepal (Radio Free Asia, January 13, 2025). Then the Chinese Communist Party dealt another blow.
Starting Monday [January 13], authorities blocked off access, preventing monks, relief volunteers and aid providers from entering the affected area under the pretext of “cleanup,” and “security work,” the residents said under condition of anonymity for safety reasons.
The blocking of monks was painful for survivors because in Buddhist tradition, prayers and rituals are conducted at the end of each week for the first seven weeks after a person’s death….
The Chinese government has also been deleting photos and videos about the impact of the earthquake from social media, residents said.
“Chinese state media has been focusing on propaganda activities such as having Tibetan children wave Chinese flags. They are forcing affected residents to express their gratitude to the Chinese government, and they display [Chinese President] Xi Jinping’s photos in the temporary shelters provided,” another resident said.
Sikyong Penpa Tsering, who leads the Central Tibetan Administration, the Tibetan government in exile in India, called on the Chinese government to “ensure transparency and accountability in relief efforts by granting unrestricted and immediate access to international aid organizations and media delegations.”
He observed that China’s censorship and other restrictions made it hard to verify casualty reports and to assess “the adequacy of relief operations.” RFA notes that although Chinese state media asserted that the earthquake had killed 126 people, Tibetan sources reported that “at least 100 people were killed in the town of Dramtso alone.”
Asked about Tsering’s statement, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Guo Jiakun, said that everything was going smoothly. “We are confident in winning this tough battle of quake response and returning work and life to normal in the affected areas as soon as possible.”
