Xining (AsiaNews) – The death toll from this morning’s earthquake in Qinghai province continues to rise. So far, 400 people are known to have died and 10,000 have been injured. Reports from Xinhua, China’s official news agency, suggest that number should climb. In some places, 85 per cent of buildings are said to have collapsed, including schools. Children had just arrived for the start of their school day. At a vocational school, “Many students are buried under the debris due to building collapse," said Zhuo Huaxia, a local official. He told state news agency Xinhua that in Jiegu Township the streets were “thronged with panic-stricken and injured people, many of whom are bleeding from injuries.” People are digging with their hands. There is a lack of medical equipment.
Speaking to AsiaNews, Fr Vincent Qin Guoliang, from the diocese of Xining, said he did not think Catholics were among the victims since few live in Yushu, the area most affected by the quake in the southern part of the province.
Some young Chinese Catholics have urged their fellow Catholics to pray for the victims of the quake.
Most Catholics in province live in the capital Xining, as well as Niezhong and Huzhu. In Golmud, there is a prayer house, but no church. In Fr Qin’s view, Catholics in Xining would know if there were victims in their community.
About a thousand Catholics live in Xining according to Fr Qin. Originally from Shanghai, the Jesuit clergyman said that a few hundred live Nieshong parish, and a few hundred more in Huzhu County. A small number also live in local villages. However, all these locations are in the eastern part of the province, whilst the epicentre is in Yushu, in the south.
Since prayer houses are in different locations, priests can only travel to them from time to time to administer the sacraments.
Most Catholics are ethnic Han Chinese, born in Catholic families. There are a few new converts. This Easter for example, the church in Xining had ten baptisms, a few more in other parishes. However, with parishes and prayer houses scattered around the vast province and only three priests, “It is difficult to do evangelisation work”, the clergyman said.
“Villagers’ dialects are sometimes a problem for me, but they probably find my Mandarin with a Shanghai accent difficult to understand too,” he joked.
Tibetans living in exile have also turned to prayers. According to some reports, Tibetans have gathered in the main Buddhist temple in Dharamshala (India) to pray and show solidarity with the quake’s victims in what for them is the Tibetan province of Kham.
“Not only are we grieving for the death of hundreds of Tibetans, victims of this natural disaster,” but “we are also concerned about the wellbeing of the thousands injured by the earthquake, “Tibetan Youth Congress President Tsewang Rigzin said. “We demand immediate medical aid for all those injured.”
