Published by: World Tibet Network News ISSUE ID: 98/01/03

BEIJING, Dec 31 (AFP) - Tibet is suffering from its heaviest snowfalls on record which have claimed the lives of 100,000 cattle, the official Chinese press said Wednesday.

"So far, there are no reports of people dying from cold or starvation. About 100,000 livestock, or one per cent of the total, have perished, but that's normal considering the severity of the snow," Ciren Sangzhu, the region's vice-chairman, told the China Daily.

The heavy snow storms which began in September and which have worsened in the past three weeks are the worst since records began 34 years ago, the Xinhua news agency said.

Ciren, who visited Beijing this week to explain what measures were being taken to alleviate hardship, said Communist Party officials "expressed deep concerns about the disaster in Tibet."

"Things are well under control thanks to the rapidity of the government's disaster relief efforts," he said.

The regional government has given 34 million yuan (four million dollars) in emergency aid, and the worst hit local collectives have put five million yuan (600,000 dollars) into relief.

Food and fuel, including 400,000 litres of fuel, 500 tonnes of coal and 1,700 tonnes of food, have also been sent.

Average temperatures were between minus 30 and minus 40 degrees Celsius (minus 22 and minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit) with 10 centimetres (four inches) of snow every 24 hours in some areas, the English-language daily said.

More than 40 counties and prefectures in the region, which is twice the size of France, at an average altitude of 4,000 metres (13,200 feet), have been hit by the snow storms, the paper said.

Tibet has a total of 76 counties or prefectures and two cities.

The Chinese media only began to mention the storms in early December, at first saying they had only hit Nagqu prefecture, north of the capital Lhasa.

According to experts quoted by the paper the El Nino climatic phenomenon is largely responsible for the snow.

Although Tibetans are used to the cold and snow, the heavy storms this winter have seen many forced to store food for their animals and some have even pulled down and burnt buildings to keep warm.