This article was originally published by Radio Free Asia and is reprinted with permission.
At least eight Buddhist monasteries and nunneries in southern Tibet have been severely damaged by the recent 7.1-magnitude earthquake, sources in the region told Radio Free Asia.
The Jan. 7 quake that truck Tibet’s Dingri and Lhatse counties left 126 people dead, Chinese state media says — although Tibetan sources believe the toll to be higher — and damaged thousands of buildings.
All told, an estimated 40 monasteries and places of worship — some of them more than 500 years old — suffered varying degrees of damage, the sources said.
They include the Dzekar Choede, Tsonga, Tsogo, Gonta-phuk, Choelung, Dhakphuk, Tashi Zomrung and Choeling monasteries.
The first three — historic monasteries in Dingri county — sustained heavy damage, according to two sources in the region and three Tibetans living in exile.
“In Dewachan Monastery in Chulho and Dzekar Choede Monastery in Dramtso, there has been significant damage to the monasteries’ assembly halls and the three main Buddha statues, with most of the precious statues inside the shrines destroyed,” one source said.
The Dzekar Choede Monastery is a 15th-century building that houses many holy Buddhist relics, which now have been transferred to the custody of Dingri county officials, Chinese state media said.
Full extent unknown
However, the full extent of the damage to monastic centers in Tingye, Lhatse and Sakya counties is unknown as China continues to clamp down on any sharing of information about the earthquake, the sources said.
“Most of the monks’ residences have also collapsed, and tragically, two nuns from Dzongtuk Nunnery have died,” the second source said. “One of the nuns was buried beneath the rubble of the collapsed buildings and, despite efforts, could not be rescued in time, leading to her death.”
More than half of the shrine at Choeling Monastery in Lhatse county’s Mangbhu township was destroyed, said a Tibetan source in exile.
“Also, many smaller monasteries situated on the hills of Dingri and Lhatse counties have sustained damage,” he source said. “In many cases, these monasteries have been completely destroyed.”
According to Chinese state media, a local cultural heritage team has inspected the damage to monastic centers in Sakya, Lhatse, Tingye and Dingri counties.
By Jan. 12, the team completed inspections in Lhatse and Dingri counties. It will submit its findings to the National Cultural Heritage Administration, or NCHA, the government agency that oversees the protection and preservation of cultural relics across mainland China.
The NCHA told state media that preliminary inspections of the “first batch of national key cultural heritage units” found “no obvious damage” in the renowned Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in Shigatse or in Pelkor Choede Monastery (Baiju Temple) and Shalu Monastery (Xialu Temple).
The agency also said Sakya Monastery suffered “repairable damage such as component displacement and wall cracking” with “no major structural risks” found.
Crackdown on online posts
In the aftermath of the quake, Chinese authorities have cracked down on Tibetans for sharing information online about the natural disaster.
On Wednesday, state media said authorities “investigated and punished” 21 Tibetans for allegedly “posting false information” on the death toll.
Sources earlier told RFA that Chinese authorities forbade people from posting information online about the earthquake and were deleting related videos and information from social media.
Three of the 21 were punished for posting that the death toll in quake-hit areas was more than 200, with one Tibetan having cited a figure of 265.
The Chinese government has not changed the official death toll it issued on Jan. 8, the day after the quake.
Sources in the region previously told RFA that they believed more than 200 had been killed and that one of the three worst-hit townships in Dingri county recorded around 100 deaths alone, raising further questions about the official count.
The Chinese government’s Public Information Network Security Supervision Department under the Ministry of Public Security on Wednesday said it would continue to crack down on “online rumors related to the Shigatse earthquake” and on any “fabrication, dissemination, and spread of online rumors.”
