- Title: CHINA: Hundreds of earthquake victims burnt in mass cremation
- Date: 18th April 2010
- Summary: YUSHU COUNTY, QINGHAI PROVINCE, CHINA (APRIL 17, 2010) (REUTERS) VEHICLES PARKED IN FRONT OF OPEN BUILDING BELOW MONASTERY VARIOUS OF MONKS LOADING BODIES ONTO BACK OF TRUCKS MONKS AND CIVILIANS COLLECTING BODIES INSIDE BUILDING VICTIM'S FOOT MONKS PICKING UP BODY MANY MONKS PASSING BODY UP ONTO TRUCK BOY LOOKING ON TRUCK LEAVING TEMPLE ON TOP OF HILL SEVERAL TRUCKS CARRYING BODIES AND MONKS MONKS STANDING BESIDE MASS CREMATION SITE IN FRONT OF MOUNTAINS MONKS PASSING BODIES DOWN HILLSIDE MONKS UNLOADING BODIES FROM TRUCK MONK'S FACE AS HE LIFTS BODY MEN CARRYING WOOD TOWARDS BURIAL SITE MONK CARRYING SMALL BODY WRAPPED IN CLOTH
- Embargoed: 3rd May 2010 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: China
- Country: China
- Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes,Environment / Natural World
- Reuters ID: LVAAXCJW8YUXNL7NNEH6SMUQ1ROV
- Story Text: Tibetans cremate hundreds of bodies while some were given to vultures in traditional Tibetan sky burial following an earthquake that has killed at least 1144 people in a predominantly Tibetan area of northwest China.
Tibetans prepared to cremate their dead as the sun rose on Saturday (April 17) after a massive earthquake struck a remote part of China earlier in the week, killing more than 1,000 people and leaving thousands homeless.
Monks at the Gyegu monastery piled hundreds of bodies into trunks, vans and cars to take them for cremation on the foothills of the town.
The official Xinhua news agency said the death toll had reached 1,144 with 417 still missing, following a 6.9 magnitude quake that struck Wednesday (April 14) in Yushu county in western Qinghai province, high on the Tibetan plateau.
More than 1,000 people were seriously injured, though almost all have now been taken out to larger cities for treatment, a government spokesman said in Beijing.
Others remain buried beneath crumbled buildings in the area 4,000 metres (13,000 feet) above sea level, but hope of finding survivors had seriously dwindled by Saturday.
Before the ceremony, monks carried the bodies from the back of dozens of trucks and removed the blankets in which they were wrapped before placing them on platforms above two trenches dug into the hillside, filled with burning wood and tyres.
The bodies of normal Tibetans in the remote region would usually be disposed of by 'sky burial', a traditional practice in which bodies are given to the vultures.
Dorjee, a monk from the Gyegu temple, said that cremation was necessary under the circumstances.
"In this area we also often use sky burial, but there are so many bodies and too few monks, so there are very few sky burials taking place. Instead we are cremating bodies, which is also a common practice in Buddhism", he said.
But sky burials did go ahead on Saturday.
Less than 200 meters up the mountainside, monks fed the body of an elderly local man to a group of several dozen vultures.
Sky burial is common on the Tibetan grasslands, where wood is scarce, and many believe the process also gives back to the natural world on which nomads rely.
Chen Ling, a Tibetan man who gave his Chinese name, was seeing off his uncle, Suona, who was crushed in his home in the quake.
"It's not only in this disaster. In the past we have always dealt with bodies using sky burial. It's usually people with higher rank who are cremated. We are just common people. We can usually only do sky burial", he said.
Once all the bodies had been laid out in the mid-morning sun, monks lit the pyre, which had been covered in gasoline.
As flames and smoke billowed up into the sky, about 500 monks in crimson robes and hundreds more locals gathered on the hillside to pray.
Local women and men sung Tibetan songs and swung prayer wheels.
A man whose aunt and cousin were being cremated, said the cycle of reincarnation in which many Tibetans believe was a great source of comfort to families of the victims.
"We believe that after someone dies their spirit lives on, and through Buddhist ritual and monks reading the sutras, the spirit gains comfort, transcends to the next stage and is released from suffering. So we ourselves are also comforted", he said.
Police were on hand, but left handling the crowds and the bodies to the monks.
China's leaders have made a point of demonstrating personal sympathy for the victims, perhaps sensitive to potential flare-ups in this area which borders the official Tibet Autonomous Region, a restive part of the country.
As the fire reached its peak, dozens of vultures took the sky to make the most of the thermals created by the intense heat. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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