Translated and Forwarded by "Save the Nomads!" project, Japan (E-mail: HAE04536@niftyserve.or.jp)

By Nobuyoshi SAKAZIRI, Asahi Shimbun, Japan

HONG KONG, 4 April--This winter the plateau of Qinghai province, northwest of China was hit by blizzard, which is said to be the worst one ever. Nomads in this area, mainly Tibetans, are suffering from starvation, frostbite and snowblindness.

According to the Hong Kong branch of Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF), 24,000 people of 4,700 families have lost all of their livestock, and 6,000 of yaks, sheep and cows are dying per one day in the affected area. Co-operating with local government, it is running such activities as providing ration and medical aid. Also it calls for world-wide supports to the nomads, saying " If this situation continues, 1.5 million heads of the livestock will be fatally damaged and tens of thousands of nomads losing the sources of income would be starved to death."

Shen Shuangyan, a staff of the Hong Kong branch of MSF, just returning from the dispatch to the relief work in the affected area, told to the reporter, " The affected area, where foodstuffs have completely run out has quite serious problems other than implementing medical aid programme."

The affected area are located in Sichuan Province and Qinghai Province. In particular, Yushu Tibet Autonomous Prefecture on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau as high as 3,000 meter above sea is reported to have damaged most severely.

In this prefecture, three quarters of population (approximately 200,000) lives in nomadic way accomodating in tents, and living on highlands in summer and moving to lower places in winter with their livestock. At the beginning of this winter, blizzards as low as -45·C hit the nomads, perishing their livestock.

More than 60,000 nomads are suffering from this disaster. The damages to the nomads are serious as they depend their sources of income on meat, fat a nd leather from their livestock for bartering trade.

According to a report from the affected area, it is estimated that more than 100 million yuan and at least ten years are required to relieve nomads and to recover the area.