At least 16 dead as 7.0-magnitude earthquake hits Tibet

At least 16 dead as 7.0-magnitude earthquake hits Tibet

The Independent

Oct 23, 2026

At least 16 people have been killed and 65 injured after a magnitude-7 earthquake hit the Tibet region on Thursday evening, collapsing hundreds of homes in the northern regional city of Nagqu, official media said.

Search and rescue efforts continued following the collapse of at least 339 homes and 20 livestock sheds, the Nagqu media office said, citing city government officials.

The US Geological Survey said the quake occurred at 10.33pm local time, with its epicentre 191km (119 miles) east-northeast of Nagqu, in a sparsely populated, high-altitude area of northern Tibet. It put the earthquake’s depth at 18km (11 miles).

Watch more on Independent TV: https://tinyurl.com/yc7ukx9n

UK report: Dalai Lama fears poison plot by fake believers

Alex Domanski / Reuters
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama greets a woman in Germany in August.

By Gil Aegerter, msnbc.com

The Dalai Lama says he fears that Chinese agents might send fake devotees to poison him, the Sunday Telegraph reports.

According to the UK newspaper, the Tibetan Buddhist leader said he had received reports from inside Tibet warning that Chinese agents had trained Tibetan women to administer the poison. The Dalai Lama said the women supposedly would have poison in their hair or head scarves and when he touched them to give a blessing, it would be passed to him.

He said that his aides couldn't confirm there was such a plot but that on advice of Indian security officials he was living with increased security in his temple grounds in Dharamsala in the Himalayan foothills, according to the Sunday Telegraph.

The report did not specify if the supposed Chinese agents were from China's government or some other group.

The report comes at a time of heightened tension between Tibetans and Chinese authorities.

Tenzin Gyatso, 76, is the 14th Dalai Lama. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. He recently won the $1.7 million Templeton Prize for his work linking science and wider questions of faith and religion -- and plans to give the money away when it's awarded on Monday in London.

Source

300 dead in Tibetan quake

8,000 reportedly injured



By Jamie L. Slaten - Morning News Producer

Wednesday, April 14, 2010 - 2:17am
A magnitude 6.9 earthquake killed at least 300 people in China's mountainous Tibetan Plateau Tuesday.

Rescue workers say dozens more are trapped in collapsed houses in the ethnic Tibetan Region and nearly 8,000 people were injured.

China's official news agency reported this morning that a series of quakes and aftershocks caused low level brick buildings to collapse.

The quake was centered in the mountains that divide China's Qinghai Province from the Tibet Autonomous Region.

The foothills to the South and East of the area are home to herders and Tibetan monasteries.
.
.
Source: http://www.ketknbc.com/tibet/300-dead-in-tibetan-quake
.

People flee Chinese town hit by plague

By HENRY SANDERSON (AP) – 1 hour ago

BEIJING — Residents of a remote farming town in western China said Tuesday people were seeking to flee in defiance a lockdown by authorities to prevent the spread of highly infectious pneumonic plague which has claimed three lives in the area.

Police have set up checkpoints around Ziketan in Qinghai province, a town of 10,000 people, which has been put under quarantine after at least a dozen people caught the lung infection which can kill within 24 hours if untreated.

Some people tried to leave the quarantined area Monday evening, mostly by foot, after the third death was reported, two residents reached by The Associated Press said. Most of the town's residents are Tibetan herders of yaks, sheep and pigs.

"A lot of people ran off last night when they heard that another person died of this plague. They are mostly from other provinces," said a food seller surnamed Han who runs a stall at the Crystal Alley Market. "They headed back home with food, water and their donkeys."

Medical workers in Ziketan were disinfecting and killing rodents and insects that can be carriers for the bacteria that causes the plague, according to a notice on the provincial health department Web site.

A Tibetan woman named Xiumaocuo, a migrant construction worker from another village in Qinghai, said there were very few people on the streets Tuesday.

"I've heard the migrant workers who build projects went home last night," she said by telephone. "My boss told me that more than 50 of the 100 construction workers on our project left homes already."

It was unclear if the people who headed out of the town made it past the police checkpoints, which residents say have been set up in 17-mile (28-kilometer) radius around Ziketan, which lies more than 300 miles (480 kilometers) west of Beijing.

Officials at the local and provincial level were unavailable to comment.

Chinese authorities have been in contact with the World Health Organization about their steps to contain the outbreak of plague, a disease that circulates mainly among small animals like rats and mice but can also infect humans.

Pneumonic plague is caused by the same bacteria that causes bubonic plague — the Black Death that killed an estimated 25 million people in Europe in the Middle Ages. Pneumonic plague is the least common and most deadly form of the disease. It can be directly spread between humans since the bacteria is airborne and can easily be inhaled by those in close contact with infected patients. But if treated early with antibiotics, it is curable.

The outbreak in Ziketan was first detected Thursday, although it isn't clear when the first victim died.

The official Xinhua News Agency said the latest victim was a 64-year-old man named Danzhi — a neighbor of the first two fatalities, described in reports as a 32-year-old herdsman and a 37-year-old man.

The herdsman fell sick after burying his dog, which had died suddenly, according to a report by the official China National Radio, citing a hospital official. He died four days after the dog's burial and the relatives who handled his funeral were showing symptoms within days, the report said.

Those relatives were among a further nine people who are infected and in a hospital, according to the local health bureau. One is in extremely serious condition and one other has developed symptoms of coughing and chest pain, but the rest are in stable condition, Xinhua and the health department said.

China has had cases of plague before. WHO said in a 2006 report that most cases in China's northwest occur when hunters are contaminated while skinning infected animals.

In 2004, eight villagers in Qinghai province died of plague, most infected after killing or eating wild marmots, creatures related to gophers and prairie dogs.

Worldwide, thousands of plague cases are reported each year, mostly in Africa. Between 1998 and 2008, nearly 24,000 cases were reported, including about 2,000 deaths, in Africa, Asia, the Americas and eastern Europe.

Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iLFGFVYaEEFibpJ7MThpiQsgInWQD99S75901

.

Pneumonic plague reported in remote western China

Three deaths and several illnesses are attributed to the disease. Health officials close access to Ziketan, a town of 10,000 in Qinghai province that is mostly populated by Tibetans.

By Barbara Demick and Joshua Frank
10:15 AM PDT, August 3, 2009

Reporting from Beijing -- Chinese health officials have cordoned off a remote western town after three deaths caused by the rare but deadly pneumonic plague.

The victims all lived in Ziketan, a town of 10,000 in Qinghai province that is mostly populated by Tibetans.


The first victim was a 32-year-old herdsman who died Thursday, four days after falling ill with a fever and cough. State radio reported that the man contracted the illness from his dog, which apparently was infected after being bitten by a flea. The herdsman's 37-year-old neighbor died Sunday and a 64-year-old man died today.

Another nine people were reported to be ill or under observation, one of them in critical condition, at the Tibetan Hospital of Xinghai county.

"Experts continue to carry out disinfecting and pest control work and are tracing people in contact with victims for quarantine purposes," the New China News Agency reported today.


Pneumonic plague is the even deadlier relative of the notorious bubonic plague, which killed millions in Europe in the Middle Ages. Spread person to person through the air, it usually kills all its victims unless they are treated with antibiotics.

In recent years, there have been sporadic outbreaks of the pneumonic plague, most of them in Africa. The few cases in China have been mostly in Tibetan areas in the west.

"In the 1980s, there were a series of plagues in Tibet, but recently not so many," said Tseten Dargye, a physician in Dawu, another Tibetan town in Qinghai province. He said the disease was spread by ticks living on marmots, which are indigenous to the mountainous Tibetan region.

Zhang Changmin, a driver from Qinghai, said that all roads in and out of Ziketan had been closed off since last week to prevent the spread of the disease.

So far the disease does not appear to be causing the panic brought on by the far less deadly swine flu, the threat of which has prompted Chinese authorities to put thousands of people into quarantine, among them U.S. tourists.

Vivian Tan, spokeswoman for the World Health Organization in China, said today that Ziketan's remote location and the low population density reduces the threat of the disease spreading.

"At this point I don't think there's a reason to be alarmed," she said. "Authorities seem to have taken the right measures."

According to Tan, this is the first time the Chinese government has officially notified the WHO of cases of pneumonic plague. But she noted there have been sporadic reports of the disease in the country before.

There had been two other cases in Qinghai in recent years, once in 2001 and again in 2004. Last year, pneumonic plague killed a couple in Tibet, according to the Ministry of Health.

barbara.demick@latimes.com


Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-fg-china-plague4-2009aug04,0,3851857.story

.

OLYMPIC TORCH LIT DESPITE PROTEST

Last Updated: Monday, 24 March 2008, 15:42 GMT

Olympic torch lit despite protest

A protester briefly ran behind Beijing's envoy as he spoke Ceremony protest The Olympic torch has been lit at a ceremony in Greece that was briefly disrupted by pro-Tibet activists. Protesters from media rights group Reporters Without Borders broke through the cordon of 1,000 police officers in Olympia as China's envoy spoke. Activists had vowed to protest over the violence in and around Tibet. The torch will now be carried around Greece before being sent to China to start a journey through 20 countries, returning to Beijing on 8 August. The route includes the torch being taken to the top of Mount Everest and through Tibet. See map of Olympic torch relay route As Liu Qi, head of the Beijing Olympic organising committee, spoke ahead of the torch lighting, three men broke into the ceremony venue. One ran up behind him attempting to display a black flag depicting the Olympic rings made from handcuffs. The men were from the France-based media rights watchdog Reporters Sans Frontieres (Reporters Without Borders, or RSF), which has called for a boycott of the opening ceremony of the games. The torch is the link between all athletes and citizens of this world... It has the force to unite humanity and to stand for harmony Jacques Rogge, IOC President In pictures: Torch ceremony They were quickly bundled away by police and Mr Liu continued his speech uninterrupted. The live television coverage, beaming the scene around the world, quickly cut away from Mr Liu and the protesters until they had been removed. "We cannot let the Chinese government seize the Olympic flame, a symbol of peace, without denouncing the dramatic human rights situation in the country," RSF said in a statement. Later, as the torch began its journey, pro-Tibet activists unfurled banners and shouted slogans before Greek security wrestled them away. 'Boycott unwanted' Actors dressed in ancient Greek costume then lit the torch in the traditional manner by using a parabolic mirror to focus the sun's rays. There were fears that stormy weather would prevent the torch being lit in the customary way. The ceremony, beside the Temple of Hera, was moved forward by an hour and the sun shone through a break in the clouds. Despite cloudy weather, the torch was lit using the sun's rays. The head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Jacques Rogge, has defended the decision to hold the Games in China saying: "The major political leaders don't want a boycott". In his speech during the ceremony, Mr Rogge said the Olympic torch relay and the Games should take place in a peaceful environment. "The torch is the link between all athletes and citizens of this world; between all of us who believe in Olympism and the virtue of sport. It has the force to unite humanity and to stand for harmony." He told the Associated Press news agency on Monday that he was engaged on a daily basis in "silent diplomacy" with Beijing on Tibet and other human rights issues. Tibet unrest The Olympic torch will be carried in a 136,000km (85,000 miles) around-the-world relay that will see it pass through 20 countries before arriving in Beijing for the start of the Games on 8 August. Tibet activists are angered that the torch's route will take it through the Himalayan region and to the top of Mount Everest, which straddles the border between Nepal and Tibet. China sent troops to Tibet in 1950 and since then there have been periods of unrest and sporadic uprisings as resentment of Beijing's rule has persisted. The latest round of anti-China protests began in Tibet's main city, Lhasa, on 10 March - the 49th anniversary of a failed uprising - and gradually escalated. Lhasa saw at least two days of violence and there have also been protests in provinces which border Tibet. China says 19 people were killed by rioters and accuses Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama of inciting the violence. The Tibetan government in exile says at least 130 people have died in a crackdown by Chinese troops and deny any role in the protests. OLYMPIC TORCH ROUTE Torch lit in Olympia on 24 March and taken on five-day relay around Greece to Athens After handover ceremony, it is taken to Beijing on 31 March to begin a journey of 136,800 km (85,000 miles) around the world Torch arrives in Macao on 3 May. After three-month relay all around China, it arrives in Beijing for opening ceremony on 8 August See detailed route on Beijing 2008 official site

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7310654.stm

P.S. Note the statement:

"Despite cloudy weather, the torch was lit using the sun's rays."

The Sun's rays!

Is there any wonder if the Olympic Sports Games are of pagan origin? ... Blogman.