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12 Feb 2025 17:27
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  •   Home > News > Environment

    A powerful quake rocked Tibet but the full impact remains unclear due to China's censorship

    More than 120 people have been killed after a powerful earthquake struck a remote region of Tibet, but with limited media access and China's robust censorship program, it has been difficult for people to get reliable information and check on loved ones.



    Overlooking a vast plateau in Tibet, a woman cries as she describes the scene in front of her.

    Her camera focuses on the ruins of a nunnery, painted a deep maroon and set into a hillside.

    It's here the poster of the video believes many were injured and in need of help after a magnitude-7.1 earthquake that struck Dingri county, Shigatse prefecture in south-west China a week ago.

    "The whole nunnery has fallen into pieces. I can barely look at it," she says through tears.

    "I don't even know what to do. I wish I was dreaming. This is devastating."

    While the Sun is shining overhead, temperatures are extremely cold, as low as -18 degrees Celsius in the days following the quake, stoking fears that those trapped in the rubble had little chance of survival.

    For many Tibetans living overseas — who have limited contact with family and friends in the highly controlled region — videos like these have been the only way to get any sense of the scale of the damage in their homeland, beyond the official accounts in state media and press conferences from Communist Party officials.

    They have also been at the centre of an information war involving artificial intelligence, contested stories and even a rumour-busting monk. 

    Chinese state media reported that 126 people have died, and at least 330 more have been injured.

    "The region is located on a plateau and in a cold, mountainous area, [where] infrastructure such as that of transportation, communication, and electricity is underdeveloped," said Hong Li, vice-secretary of the Party Committee of the Emergency Management Department of the Tibet Autonomous Region.

    Local officials said in a press conference that large-scale search and rescue operations had finished by Thursday, after more than 400 people were pulled from the rubble.

    "For a disaster like an earthquake at this scale, it's a race against time," Zhang Yunhong of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) told the ABC from Beijing.

    "The people stuck in the rubble need to be rescued within the golden period of the first 24, 48, 72 hours.

    "Now the focus is on shelter, on food, and also livelihood support."

    More than 61,000 people were affected by the earthquake, at least 47,000 of which had to be relocated by authorities.

    Ms Zhang added that the Red Cross of China had deployed more than 100 personnel and delivered nearly 9,000 emergency items, including quilts and disaster kits to the affected region.

    [Quake map]

    CCP mobilises monk to dismiss 'rumours'

    The video of the ruined nunnery was posted on Douyin — China's version of TikTok.

    While it appears to have been removed from the original poster's page, it has been circulating among Tibetans overseas on other social media.

    It has also been picked up by Chinese state media, with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) mouthpiece The Global Times quoting a monk refuting the influencer's claims that they were in desperate need of help.

    "After the earthquake, some vloggers took advantage of our focus on earthquake relief to secretly visit Zongbu Temple, a local nunnery in Chamco township," said Ngawang Tsering, deputy director of the Shekar Chode Monastery management committee.

    "They filmed videos alleging that the temple was damaged but left unattended, they also falsely claimed that injured nuns were left without assistance.

    "These are completely rumours, which made me very angry."

    He went on to say that injured nuns were taken to hospital, while those that were unharmed had been resettled.

    The influencer said in her video that two nuns had been killed in the earthquake, a claim that The Global Times article did not address.

    According to Radio Free Asia, authorities have been prohibiting people from posting earthquake-related content on social media.

    The ABC has chosen to blur the faces of those posting from Tibet over concerns for their safety that have been raised by Tibetans living overseas.

    Censorship and the baby with six fingers

    This example highlights just how hard it can be for those outside Tibet to know exactly what is going on in their homeland, with many unable to contact friends and relatives due to fear of reprisals.

    One of the Tibetans living overseas who the ABC has spoken to has been able to contact family members back home to check on their wellbeing, but said they've kept their conversations to the basics to limit the risk of any harm coming to their relatives.

    Complicating matters is the fact that AI images have been shared among the posts purporting to show earthquake damage and rescues, leaving many further questioning what information can be trusted.

    Even Chinese state-run television CCTV has published a story about fraudulent pictures online, including one showing a baby emerging from the rubble, which when looked at closely has six fingers on its left hand.

    Former political prisoner Ngawang Sangdrol was scouring social media in the hours after the earthquake.

    "People were too scared to send videos directly through [messaging app] WeChat at the beginning … and some people reminded each other to be careful, even though it's not related to politics," she told the ABC.

    "The people who go [on social media] and see for themself, they're crying, they're so emotional.

    "I don't trust the state media, they only show propaganda."

    Now based in the US, Ms Sangdrol, who spent more than a decade in jail by the age of 25, said she wasn't in touch with anyone in Tibet due to her history of advocating for Tibetan independence.

    It's the first time she's seen so much of her homeland in years.

    "Usually everybody's not open, but this time, everybody is less scared because it's a natural disaster," she said.

    "Sometimes I feel I can't see that much … but this time I can feel how they are strong and united with each other.

    "They feel like we're all one family, so it made me more deeply emotional when I saw those [videos on social media]."

    Beijing denies cracking down on Tibetan identity

    Information out of Tibet is routinely censored and communication strictly controlled, with foreign journalists rarely allowed into the region.

    The Foreign Correspondents Club of China's 2023 Media Freedoms Report said only one of its members had been granted access to the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), with the area officially off-limits to international journalists.

    The club's 2021 report found that journalists who'd been to Tibetan-inhabited areas of other regions had experienced harassment.

    "Journalists selected by the Chinese government to participate in state-organised trips to TAR were closely watched and prevented from going to places or meeting people other than those present by state officials hosting the visit," the 2021 report said.

    A report to the US Congress about access to Tibetan areas stated that the TAR is the only part of China that diplomats and other officials have to request formal permission to visit.

    "US mission personnel were unable to conduct any American Citizen Services visits to the TAR in 2023 because requests for visits by consular officers were not approved," the report said.

    "No consular officer has visited the TAR since 2019."

    Chinese state media has also reported on the earthquake almost exclusively referring to Tibet as Xizang, the region's Chinese name, in its English language coverage.

    Many advocacy groups cite this as another way China has been cracking down on the region and its citizens, and trying to minimise or erase a distinct Tibetan identity, which Beijing rejects.

    Kalsang Derab from the Australia Tibet Council said there had been vigils held by communities around Australia, but many still felt disconnected from their friends and families in Tibet.

    "They are also trying to gather donations, but it's not possible for the Tibetans in Australia to send donations to Tibet," said Mr Derab, who previously worked for the Tibetan Government in Exile, in India.

    "So they are sending the money to India to do prayer offerings to the deceased and also to pray for the recovery of those who were injured in the earthquake.

    "Everyone feels kind of helpless because we can only watch and pray and we cannot do anything on the ground."

    Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun dismissed calls by the Tibetan government in exile to consider the traditional needs of those affected by the earthquake, calling it a separatist political group.

    He went on to say the disaster response was quick and continuing smoothly, with rescuers braving bitter cold and low oxygen levels to find those who'd been trapped.

    Tibet's spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who's been in exile since a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959, led a prayer gathering of about 12,000 people at the Tashi Lhunpo monastery in southern India.

    "This tragedy that has taken place in Tibet should be neither a cause for anger nor something that makes us disheartened," he told the vigil.

    "It is important to maintain the bonds between us that are founded on our unshakable faith and commitment."

    For Ms Sangdrol, there has been some comfort in seeing her fellow Tibetans band together during a time of crisis.

    "Although it is heartbreaking to see the natural disaster that has occurred in Tibet, I am very happy to see that Tibetans inside Tibet still maintain their strong unity as before," she said.

    "However, from my experience, I am worried because it is inevitable that some people who are showing concern for this incident will face difficulties due to false political accusations against them."


    ABC




    © 2025 ABC Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved

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