Thank you to everyone who has taken action to support the relief efforts in Kyegundo (spoken Jyekundo). It is heartbreaking to hear the news and watch footage from the quake zone and our thoughts and prayers remain with those in the region.
SFT has posted a list of organizations that work in the region and have set-up emergency relief funds:http://www.sftuk.org/quake-appeal/
You can find updates on the relief efforts here: http://www.tibetanvillageproject.org/yer.html and here: http://yushuearthquakerelief.com/
We’re also working to educate the international community that the earthquake struck in Chinese-occupied Tibet (as opposed to “Western China” or “Qinghai province bordering Tibet”) and indeed, in a region with strong Tibetan resistance roots. Read SFT’s statement on the quake: http://www.sftuk.org/kyegudo-earthquake-statement/
Ways that you can help:
1)Call on British Government to acknowledge the Tibetan victims of the quake and pressure the Chinese Govt. to allow His Holiness the Dalai Lama to visit and console the victim of Tibet Earthquake.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband did not once mentioned Tibet or Tibetans in his brief statement issued on April 16. Instead he expresses his support for all the people of China: http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/news/latest-news/?view=News&id=22071723
Read SFT’s response here: klsfjdlkfjd
Help ensure the PM hears from Tibetans and British people from across the country urging him to acknowledge that the earthquake took place in Tibet and its victims are overwhelmingly Tibetan. You can send him a message here: http://is.gd/buyXO
3) Call out CNN for not once referring to Tibet in its quake coverage.
While most of the major news networks include some mention of the quake victims being Tibetan or refer to Yushu as a Tibetan area of China, we are shocked by CNN’s omission of any references to Tibet in its quake coverage. Watch Errol Barnnett’s coverage from CNN’s China Quake Desk: http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2010/04/14/barnett.china.quake.update.cnn
Even CCTV, China’s state television network, recognizes Yushu as an overwhelmingly Tibetan area: http://english.cctv.com/program/worldwidewatch/20100415/105559.shtml
You can post comments directly to Errol on his Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/ErrolCNN) and by tweeting @errolcnn.
Please also send your comments to CNN’s headquarters in Atlanta: http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form4.html?133
4. Read and share Josh Schrei’s Huffington post article on the quake: “To Die with Dignity in your Own Land: Tibet, China, and the Politics of Disaster.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-schrei/to-die-with-dignity-in-yo_b_538840.html (Josh is a long-time Tibet activist and former SFT Board Chair.)
Sample message to CNN:
I am writing to express my concern about your Tibet earthquake coverage. The earthquake struck in the Tibetan area of Kyegundo (spoken: Jyekundo), in Tibet’s traditional Kham province. The Chinese government, which occupied Tibet in 1949, refers to the region as the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai Province. Even CCTV, China’s state television network, recognizes Yushu as an overwhelmingly Tibetan area. I call on you to, at a minimum, recognize that the earthquake struck a Tibetan area and that its victims are overwhelmingly Tibetan.
