Letter from Lhasa: Life gradually restored on Xizang's post-quake resettlement sites

by Liu Zhoupeng

LHASA, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The sun has come out over the makeshift houses in Dingri County of southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, which was struck by a 6.8-magnitude earthquake in early January.

On-site cleanup work is proceeding in an orderly manner, with rescue workers combing through debris to search for people's belongings.

On Jan. 7, a 6.8-magnitude earthquake claimed 126 lives in Dingri, home to the northern base camp of Mount Qomolangma, the world's highest peak.

Despite ongoing grief, hope persists and life as Tibetans once knew it is being gradually restored across local resettlement sites, and I witnessed countless heartwarming scenes during my visits to quake-hit villages.

Inside a house made from boards on a resettlement site in Chamco Township's Ganden Village, 3-month-old Kelsang Tseden was nestled in a thick cashmere blanket, surrounded by Tibetan-style cushions and blankets to keep him warm. A stove in the room also radiated warmth.

"My baby was probably frightened by the earthquake and cried incessantly, but he calmed down after we moved here," said Tarchin Drolma, the baby's mother. Relief workers visited them every evening to ensure they had electricity and heating supplies, and the township government provided the family with baby formula and other supplies.

"My baby is receiving the best care here," Tarchin Drolma said.

Not far away, I saw a crane extend its arm to lift boards and place them gradually and accurately in their designated locations. Below, workers in hard hats could be seen breaking a sweat to fix the board houses to the ground.

Zhao Lin, a frontline board-house building coordinator, told me that a makeshift house can be assembled in just two minutes and seven seconds. That day, they had been tasked with installing 1,000 such houses.

As of Thursday, a total of 5,152 makeshift board houses had been built on resettlement sites across the region's affected areas.

The Dzongbu Nunnery is a county-level cultural relic protection site in Ganden Village, and Zimgag Chodewo Monastery in the neighboring village of Zimgag is a regional-level cultural relic protection site.

Both sites suffered severe damage in the earthquake, and all resident nuns and monks have been resettled in makeshift houses in a nearby open space.

The 600-year-old Dzongbu Nunnery, perched halfway up Mount Qomolangma, collapsed entirely during the quake and I couldn't enter when I visited it.

Urgyen Goksang, 52, is a nun who lived in Dzongbu. She told me that she had spent 28 years in the nunnery, and that this is the most severe damage it has ever sustained. Two nuns lost their lives, and four were injured and transferred to the municipal hospital in Xigaze.

When I arrived at Zimgag Chodewo Monastery, Thubten, deputy director of the monastery's management committee, was taking stock of the site's cultural relics. More than 50 movable relics had been placed in a safe for their protection.

Thubten's left hand had been injured in the earthquake, and he'd had it treated and bandaged at a medical station on the resettlement site.

"May the deceased rest in peace while the living move on with their lives," he said.

The quake claimed no lives in Remuchi Village, Qulho Township, which was just 18 kilometers from the epicenter.

Unlike other villages, where board houses have been placed in separate rows, Remuchi has created a courtyard by surrounding an open space with makeshift houses.

In this courtyard, I saw villagers sprinkling water to keep dust levels down while others were busy distributing donated beef and mutton.

"The beef is from Argentina and the mutton is from Australia. The township government distributed them evenly, and each household gets more than 5 kilograms," said local Losang Ngodrup, 35.

Another resident, Pema Wangchug, 43, was bare-chested and washing his long hair with water from newly connected taps.

Running tap water was restored on Jan. 12 in his village. "Now that our family of five is living in board houses with electricity and heating, everyone feels much better," he said.

All the board houses on the Gurum Village resettlement site in Chamco Township are equipped with Wi-Fi, and some even have an IPTV network television connection. I saw children in the village gathered around TVs to watch their favorite programs.

"Ten years ago, when an earthquake struck, our main task was to secure telephone signal," Phurb Tashi, deputy general manager of the Xigaze Branch of China Telecom, told me. "Nowadays, people are eager to reconnect to their WeChat accounts and other online social platforms as soon as possible, so we need to restore the network quickly."

At the entrance to the village, I spoke with Namgyal, a technician dispatched by the housing and urban-rural development bureau of Xigaze, as he surveyed the soil in a cleared open space.

"It will take about a week to complete the survey of the entire village. These technical parameters will enable future permanent homes to be more quake-resistant," Namgyal said. "Before long, residents will return to their familiar land and move into their new homes." ■