March 19, 1996

SNOWSTORMS - A SPECIAL REPORT

TO FRIENDS and SUPPORTERS

Many of you, in particular those who are on e-mail, have received our appeals, press clippings, and reports on the snowstorm in Kham and Amdo. From the onset, we would like to extend our gratitude to all of you for your tremendous interest in this devastating situation. As a result of His Holiness the Dalai Lama's worldwide appeal, fundraising drives have been started in many cities and towns throughout the world.

Briefly, the border areas of Tibet and China were struck with earthquakes and blizzard snowstorms which have resulted in countless deaths and massive destruction. The snowstorms have devastated many places, but main destructions took place in Jyekundo and Zachuka counties. However, this report focuses our efforts in relation to the snowstorms.

According to The London Guardian (Feb. 28, 96) "The worst snowstorms for a century are endangering the lives of tens of thousands of Tibetan nomads by devastating the herds of yak and sheep they depend upon for food, clothing and fuel."

Doctors Without Border/Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) reports that the temperatures in these areas, which are located high on the Tibetan plateau, have dropped to as low as minus 47 degrees Celsius, killing more than three quarters of the livestock. Doctors have called it a humanitarian catastrophe.

The snowstorms had struck in November 1995, but the extent of death and destruction became known to the outside world only in late February, after Serge Depotter of MSF returned from his visit to Jyekundo. Mr. Depotter and MSF have been the primary sources of publicity about the snowstorms. Although there were many wire services by Reuters, AP, UPI etc. we have yet to see a published article in the Western press - a total silence.

A sample of death and destruction are as below:

1. Jyekundo county: Jyekundo has lost over 700,000 livestock and over 100,000 nomads are on the verge of starvation by late February. Aid officials estimate that 25,000 people have lost all their livestock and a further 55,000 people have lost more than 80% of them. About 16,000 nomads are suffering from frosbite and another 12,000 from snow blindness, a condition in which the cornea is damaged by the sun's glare.

One Chinese official said that villages are littered with frozen carcasses, and that their immediate job was disposing of the dead bodies. The limited food resources currently available will not even last a week.

Jyekundo has an area of 104,000 sq miles, with about 200,000 people now in Amdo. This county alone needs 2.5 million U.S. dollars to survive the blizzard which will last until early May.

2. Zachuka county: Known to the Chinese as Shichu, Sichuan Province has also been devastated by the snowstorm. A United Nations report confirms that 48 people have been killed. The Tibet Development Fund (TDF) from Beijing submitted a funding request which reports that, in addition to the 48 deaths, 15,252 nomads are either snow blinded or seriously wounded; 100,547 livestock are dead; and 72,174 livestock have had miscarriages.

Zachuka has an area of 25,141 sq km with a population of 63,258, of which 96% are Tibetan. Zachuka is situated on the borders of TAR, Qinghai and Sichuan. It is about 1,250 km from Chengdu. This area does not have much difference between summer and winter.

Zachuka needs U.S. $183,000 in order provide basic relief services to 3,986 households of 18,865 Tibetan nomad people who are presently suffering from this major natural disaster. TDF claims that all attentions are on Jyekundo, and that Zachuka and other affected areas are being overlooked. All these statistics are more than one month old.

Both the Tibetan refugee community and the Tibet Fund had begun paying their attention to the snowstorms in only early March. His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Kashag sent worldwide appeals. Tibet Fund circulated its appeals to selected donors and distributed the appeal on E-Mail. Many individuals, organizations, and Buddhist centers did special mailing on behalf of the Tibet Fund. Many will put the appeal in their newspapers. We are getting good responses from a mailing done by the Tibetan Right Campaign in Seattle. During the just-concluded Tibet Conference of the Americas on March 9 & 10, 1996, the Snowstorm was widely discussed. We also raised a small amount of donations in the conference.

International Campaign for Tibet appealed to President Clinton. The Office of Tibet and Special Envoy in Washington, D. C. jointly sent a special appeal to the Tibetan communities in North America.

On March 6, 1996, the Tibet Development Fund (TDF) submitted a funding request to the Tibet Fund for relief work in Zachuka. The total request is slightly over $183,000. This request can be divided into two pieces and the most urgent one comes up to $72,000.

His Holiness made a personal contribution of $15,000. The Tibet Fund added $5,000 to the His Holiness' contribution of $15,000 and transferred $20,000 to the Doctors Without Borders. We received acknowledgements from the doctors to say that the funds have already arrived in Jyekundo. MSF now hired 43 trucks to transport supplies from Xining to Jyekundo. Due to poor road conditions and snow, trucks are encountering many problems on the road.

Today, March 19th, the Tibet Fund made a donation of $20,000 to the Tibet Development Fund in Tibet to begin their relief services in Zachuka.

This is a report on how the work for our compatriot nomads has begun and the tremendous goodwill of the people. We will report the fruit of this effort in our next report. It seems, we may able to raise substantial funds, but we do not know yet whether the poor yaks will wait for us to act.

Anyone wishes additional information on snowstorms, please contact the Tibet Fund in New York City: Phone 212-213-5011; Fax 212-779-9245 and E-Mail otny@ige.apc.org