China, Tibet: Tibetans cut off by quake

From Mandarin service reporter Qiao Long:

The Tibetan government-in-exile completely lost contact with Tibetans living in Ngaba, Gansu (in Chinese, Aba) after the earthquake, without any news emerging about the situation in local monasteries and nunneries. Ge Sang, an officer with the exiled government said: “We completely lost contact with them. As communications have been paralyzed, there isn’t any information coming from there.”

The earthquake has captured the attention of Tibetan monks in China. Monks at the Drepung monastery in Lhasa are planning a prayer ritual on Wednesday to pray for peace for people in the tremor-hit areas.

Newsdesk: Fallout from Sichuan Tibetan unrest

Quotes from Ding Xiao’s report, March 19 – 中国境内藏族学生全面受控　藏区不准离校引发冲突

In Maerkang county, Gansu province, an ethnic Han teacher at the Maerkang Normal College told Mandarin reporter Ding Xiao that beginning March 15th Tibetan students who live on campus have been forbidden from returning to their homes in the rural area, and that some had protested against the policy and clashed with campus security.

He said: “The Tibetan students at the Maerkang Normal College – their homes and parents are in Ngaba prefecuture (in Chinese, Aba). They heard some rumors and wanted to go back home. The school stopped them from going, saying that it would be safer on campus.