The U.S. Geological Survey maintains that the earthquake that hit the remote Tibetan town of Jyeku (the Chinese call it Yushu) in the early morning of April 14 measured 6.9 on the Richter scale, while the Chinese government has said that the quake’s intensity was 7.1 (which would mean that it was approximately the same strength as the brutal earthquake that recently hit Haiti). By any measure, though, this was a strong quake that has devastated an area largely untouched by China’s economic miracle.
Media reports indicate that upwards of 85 percent of buildings in the area have been destroyed, at least 1000 killed, and thousands more have sustained injuries. According to one report from the scene, Tibetan monks comprise of a disproportionate number of those who perished as many were inside prayer halls when the wooden monasteries collapsed. The fact that fatalities have been nowhere near those of the Haiti quake is due primarily to the region’s extremely low population density. Nonetheless, the population center of Jyeku, where rescue efforts are currently centered, had experienced rapid growth in recent years as the Chinese government implemented a plan to force nomads to resettle in town. These unskilled herders — they had previously tended livestock on the grasslands — were also likely hit hard by the quake, living as they did in clusters of hastily-built substandard housing.
