Quake in Tibet leaves 87 injured

At least 87 people were injured and over 45,000 houses damaged when a 6.1 magnitude earthquake jolted parts of Tibet on Wednesday.

The quake was followed by several aftershocks, official media said, adding that about 87 people were injured.

Traffic is expected to resume in the affected areas as rescuers have cleared most of the roads, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Over 100 km of roads linking villages in Ringo, a mountainous town located at the epicentre of the quake, were damaged, affecting more than 3,400 villagers, said Wei Huakui, deputy engineer-in-chief of the armed police team responsible for clearing the roads.

The earthquake damaged 45,000 houses, as well as multiple highways, bridges and some water conservancy facilities, Wei said.

Source Credit: The Hindu

Popular Tibetan Performer Detained for 'Political' Song

Chinese security officials have detained a popular Tibetan musician and singer for performing a song calling on Tibetans to ‘unite’ and to learn and speak their own language, as China continues to crack down on public assertions of Tibetan national and cultural identity.

Kalsang Yarphel, 38, was taken into custody in Tibet’s regional capital Lhasa on July 14 and was flown under guard to Chengdu, in Sichuan province, former political prisoner Lhamo Kyab told RFA’s Tibetan Service on Wednesday.

“He is now being held there in detention,” said Kyab, a former resident of Yarphel’s native Machu (in Chinese, Maqu) county in Gansu province, citing contacts in the region.

In October and November last year, Yarphel had helped to organize Lhasa-area concerts called Khawai Metok, or Snow Flower, in which he sang a song titled “Fellow Tibetans,” Kyab said.

The song, which calls on Tibetans to learn and speak Tibetan and to “build courage” to think about Tibet’s “future path,” was deemed subversive by Chinese authorities, who opened an investigation and questioned Yarphel several times before finally detaining him last month, he said.

Popular since childhood for his beautiful singing voice, Yarphel had built up a strong fan base among Tibetans over the years and had distributed many recordings, said Kyab, adding that the singer had performed at concerts arranged both by the government and by private organizations.

Yarphel, who comes from Gansu province’s Machu county, is married with three children—two boys and a girl. His wife’s name is Tenzin Palmo, and his father’s name is Gonpo Tseten and mother’s name is Makho.

Recordings banned

Separately, the Dharamsala, India-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) confirmed Kalsang Yarphel’s detention, saying that Chinese authorities have now banned the sale of DVD recordings of the Khawai Metok concerts at which Yarphel performed.

Copies had already been widely distributed in Tibetan-populated areas of China’s Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan, and Yunnan provinces, TCHRD said in a press release on Friday.

China has jailed scores of Tibetan writers, artists, singers, and educators for asserting Tibetan national and cultural identity and language rights since widespread protests swept Tibetan areas in 2008.

In June, two Tibetan singers detained for nearly a year for distributing politically sensitive songs were handed two-year jail terms following a secret court hearing, according to Tibetan sources.

Pema Trinlay, 22, and Chakdor, 32, both natives of a nomadic settlement in Sichuan, were taken into custody in July 2012 in Machu county in Gansu, a Tibetan living in exile told RFA’s Tibetan Service in an earlier report.

They were detained “because of their release of a DVD that contained songs praising self-immolation protesters and [exiled spiritual leader] the Dalai Lama,” Dharamsala-based monk Kanyak Tsering said, citing sources in the region.

A total of 121 Tibetans have set themselves ablaze to date in protests challenging Beijing’s policies and rule in Tibetan areas.
Source Credit: RFA

Spiritual leader of Tibet wishes Bush after successful surgery

Dharamshala: - The spiritual leader of Tibet His Holiness the Dalai Lama Thursday, August 7, expressed happiness and relief with the successful heart surgery the former U.S. President underwent after his doctors found an artery blockage.

The Nobel Peace laureate wrote a letter dated August 7, 2013 to Bush, 67, after his Tuesday's surgery. His Holiness wished him a swift and complete recovery.

"His Holiness Dalai Lama wrote the letter from Leh (in Jammu and Kashmir) where he is on a three-week visit," office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama based in Dharamshala said.

According to media reports, the former President George W. Bush returned home Wednesday after successfully undergoing heart surgery for a blocked artery Tuesday morning in Dallas.

Spokesman Freddy Ford told AP that Bush was discharged from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Wednesday morning and "is doing great."
Bush, 67, had a stent placed in an artery during the Tuesday procedure, which was done after an artery blockage was found during his annual physical Monday.

The blockage was discovered at the Cooper Clinic in Dallas and, following a recommendation by his doctors, Bush agreed to go ahead with the procedure.

George W. Bush is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd President of the United States of America from 2001 to 2009.

Source Credit: The Tibet Post International