Supplies sent to quake-hit Tibetan villages

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-10-07 13:50

DAMXUNG, Tibet -- Tents, food and water are now being trucked in to Tibetan villages hit by a 6.6-magnitude earthquake after rescuers opened a main road Tuesday.

In Gedar, a town with more than 4,000 people in Damxung County, nearly every house had cracked walls after the quake hit at 4:30 pm on Monday.

Damxung, the epicenter, is an outer county of Tibet's regional capital Lhasa.

Yangyi Village was hardest hit by the quake. Nine people died, 19 were injured and 171 homes toppled.

Another 20 residential houses were destroyed in neighboring Nyemo County but no casualties were reported.

Shortly after the road to Yangyi Village was restored around midnight, injured villagers were sent to two hospitals in downtown Lhasa for treatment.

"Most of them suffer traumas or bone fractures," said Tashi Namgyal, president of the People's Hospital, the leading hospital in Lhasa where seven injured villagers were being treated.

The other 12 injured people were admitted to the General Hospital of Tibet's Area Command of the People's Liberation Army (PLA).

Hao Peng, vice chairman of Tibet's regional government, visited them 4 am Tuesday.

A majority of the quake victims were women, children and elderly people. Most men were away mowing and storing forage grass for the winter, said Tsering Samdrup, a Yangyi villager.

Fearing their homes would collapse, most families stayed out in tents for the night amid continuous after shocks. Some wept for the dead.

"I can't believe it," cried Nyima, a Tibetan herder who lost her two-year-old daughter. "Now our family of nine was reduced to eight."

Tenzin Chodrak said he was putting extra hay into the sheepfold when his home toppled in the quake. "My brother's son died and my mother was injured," he said.

PLA troops stationed in Lhasa were among the first to arrive after the quake. They helped people out of the ruins, pulled out dead bodies and visited every family to count missing.

At least 700 rescuers are at the site, with PLA soldiers putting up more tents hoping to accommodate all villagers by dusk. Health workers are examining villagers and sanitizing the area to prevent epidemics.

PLA soldiers and rescue dogs are searching through rubble in search of others who may be trapped.

Lamas have been called in to perform rituals for the quake dead before sky burials, a traditional funeral practice in Tibet.