Kham / Qinghai / Tibet / China Earthquake Update

Above, is the view from here, about an hour ago. 

The news from Tibet is all bad, and rather than sit around chewing my nails, 

I decided to go outside and visit with the garudas for a while.

"You see, in order to experience open space one also must experience the solidity of the earth, of form. They are interdependent. Often, we romanticize open space and then we fall into traps. As long as we do not romanticize open space as a wondrous place but rather relate that space to earth, then we will avoid these traps. Space cannot be experienced without the outline of the earth to define it." 

-- Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

UPDATED: The fate of Buddhist treasures after the quake
UPDATED: Google offers crisis response for Tibet quake
UPDATED: Incredible visual record of the Tibetan quake
UPDATED: China declares April 21, 2010 as national day of mourning
UPDATED: Fastest way to send money directly to Tibetan disaster area
UPDATED: Chinese expert says earthquake predictions ignored in Tibet
UPDATED: Regional NGOs band together to help
UPDATED: Taiwan rescue team admitted into region
UPDATED: Emergency appeal by Thrangu Rinpoche
UPDATED: Karmapa issues international appeal for help: sends USD $200,000 to victims

UPDATED: Video of mass cremations by monks after Tibet quake

UPDATED: Satellite photos show destruction at Jyekundo

UPDATED: Political fallout will be fast in coming after Tibet quake

UPDATED: China mobilizes grassroots aid for Tibetan victims

UPDATED: Video report from destroyed monastery.

UPDATED: Thrangu Monastery destroyed by earthquake: emergency appeal launched

UPDATED: Trungpa XII safe following killer quake in Tibet

UPDATED: Kham in ruins following 7.1 earthquake

Through friends in the region, we are learning that hospitals as far away as Chengdu are overflowing with casualties. Apparently, some of the worst cases are being airlifted all the way to Chengdu because of the level of trauma care available, and there is a sudden clamor for translators.

Through some of the Kagyu websites, blogs, and mailing lists, we are getting a very sad picture of Jyekundo. People are writing to us, asking us to clarify the Tibetan name, instead of using Yushu, which is the Chinese name. They are telling us this is a Tibetan tragedy, not a Chinese tragedy.

Sorry, but this is a human tragedy, and we need to set politics aside for the time being. It takes an awfully hard heart to ignore the literally thousands of Han relief workers who are flooding into the region to help. Arguing with them, or about them, isn't going to help anything. Tensions were running high to begin with, and the sorrow everyone feels can suddenly turn to anger.

Cell phone service is intermittent, and power is out. There are significant problems with water, and the small airport cannot be used. The road to Xining is slightly damaged, but open, and in one report, a thousand cars were noted, trying to take injured people to Xining for hospitalization. Unfortunately, Xining has no more beds or medical supplies left.

Khenpo Tsering, a reliable Kagyu source in the region, phoned out a report that Jyekundo is "completely destroyed." The pool footage we are seeing certainly bears out this assessment. He also said that around 800 bodies had been counted, but "there are thousands more bodies still buried in the collapsed buildings." He stated that the Sakya Monastery at Jyekundo is badly damaged but still standing, and said he had been told Thrangu Monastery is "95% destroyed."

We are closely following this story and will publish updates as they become available. We will consolidate and link here.

KEYWORDS: earthquake, Qinghai, Kham, Yushu, Jyekundo, Tibetan monastery destroyed by earthquake, China, Tibet