Now that the media have their story in Jyekundu (aka Jiegu and Gyegu), the county seat of Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (TAR), the real work of material relief, emotional support and infrastructure rebuilding is shifting into gear. This is the hard, everyday grind of post-disaster work, which is usually not deemed newsworthy unless it involves corruption and crime. As the images and stories disappear from the news often the much-needed donations also fall off. The victims of this earthquake are now spread out over a very wide area of western China, which now includes hospitals in the provinces of Qinghai, Gansu and Shaanxi. In U.S. geographic terms this would be like sending victims from Cincinnati to Philadelphia and New York to receive medical attention, only in this part of the world the treacherous roads wind over extremely high mountains with passes that are frequently closed by snow and landslides. Often roads are washed out, sloughed away or seemingly swallowed by underground movements of the earth. It is not a stretch to say that Yushu is quite remote.
Early on Friday morning I received a phone call from a young Tibetan woman, SD, in Xining – last month I mentioned her and her sister here – and she was clearly upset. The prior day she had tried raising money for the earthquake victims with other students at her school, and was having very little success, so she had gone to her supervising teacher and asked for leave to go to Yushu. By her account, her request covered a significant period of time and three floors as she followed him through a classroom building pleading her case. The answer was a predictable, “No.” At the same time her friend, the man who is now in Yushu who I mentioned yesterday, was in a truck heading to Yushu. She couldn’t understand why she could not have also been in the truck. When she called she was fasting for the victims of the earthquake. I am not sure how long it had been since she had eaten. I was able to help her understand that everyone couldn’t go, and that there was much she could do in Xining, since a majority of the relief supplies were originating there: trucks needed to be loaded, NGO’s needed help with phones, etc. I pointed her in some specific directions, with specific instructions to break her fast if she was going to be involved in hard, physical work. She seemed happy for the suggestions. The following day, Saturday, I received another call from her. She was volunteering in one of the Xining hospitals, still fasting, but happy to be of use.
What is not generally understood is the complications of language in this region. Xining is in Tibetan Amdo, and Yushu is in Kham, two distinctly different dialects. Although the written language is the same it is fair to assume that many of the victims from Yushu are illiterate, as so many of the Tibetans who have not gone to school are. And while this is a problem, the Tibetans have been able to get around this. My friend in Xining was getting hot water and food, as well as being able to speak with the victims who knew a bit of Chinese, though it was a Chinese understandable to Tibetans, not necessarily understood by the Chinese medical workers. For those unfamiliar with the Chinese medical system, a family is responsible for taking care of the patient: attending to hygienic needs, purchasing food, as well as feeding, getting water, changing bedding, etc. For many patients and their attending families, this is the first time they have been to a Chinese city; culture shock and disorientation are acute. Though many of the volunteer students have only come to cities in order to attend college, they are young and quick studies in urban survival skills. Their volunteer presence in the hospitals is absolutely critical at this time.
As I mentioned above, the Yushu quake victims are scattered throughout the region, in Xining, Lanzhou and Xi’an. The number of patients below does not include family members who have also traveled to be with them.
Xining (Qinghai): 655 patients
Lanzhou (Gansu): 154 patients
Xi’an (Shaanxi): 90 patients
Tsomo
Three of my female classmates are from Yushu. After the terrible earthquake they lost many relatives and friends, not to mention property. Luckily their parents are still alive. Now those three women are working busily in the hospital, day and night. They have been staying up all night to help the patients from their hometown and cannot attend classes as usual. When they come back to school from the hospital they just fall on the bed and sleep. Patients in the hospital have nothing now. I hope many warm-hearted people will stretch out their hands to help them.
Drolma
I went to the hospital to volunteer with my classmates – we spent one night there. There were many patients in the hospital. Some of the patients could not move, eat, drink, or go to the toilet by themselves. When people were awake they were nervous and when they were asleep they had nightmares. One man I helped had bruises all over his face and he couldn’t move his legs. The patients in the hospital still don’t have any clean clothes and what they are wearing has already become dirty and caked with blood.
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This from the latest update, April 19 from the Yushu Earthquake Response team, a coalition of Tibetan NGOs who are set up in Yushu and coordinating relief through Xining:
Volunteers on the ground there coordinating the arriving trucks and preparing distribution loads. Our distribution method now has two main goals. The first is to identify which areas need the most urgent assistance, the second is to work with the camp community to identify and train local community leaders who can oversee the distribution of supplies in an orderly fashion and identify on-going needs. This immediate re-building of community structure is key to recovery. This method was trialed this morning very successfully with orderly distribution of food and essential items to around 150 people.
Yesterday’s truck had 4 motorbikes on-board these bikes will enable our team to get into outlying areas quickly and assess the situation in areas we still have no news from. Along with buying supplies and packing the next truck to go, our team is beginning to shift gears and think about longer term planning. There is now a refugee camp situation with tent communities springing up on any available clear land – sanitation in the camps is fast becoming a big issue.
The procurement of 4 motorbikes, the poor man’s four-wheel drive, is huge.
To help, visit the Yushu Earthquake Response site.
photo: Karamibu’s Flickr site