China Recovering From Earthquake, 2,000 dead

The Chinese government held a day of mourning today for the more than 2,000 lives lost in last week’s magnitude 6.9 earthquake. Although this devastating disaster struck in a sparsely populated region of Tibet, many of its inhabitants have been left homeless and struggle for shelter in near-freezing temperatures. The central government has dispatched tens of thousands of troops to aid search and rescue efforts and have sent massive amounts of aid in the form of food, water and shelter.

Many Buddhist monks have arrived in the area to aid the hardest-hit cities, digging out people trapped under the rubble by hand, providing funeral and spiritual services the the survivors, and distributing aid. The Dalai Lama, living in exile in India, has requested passage to his native Tibet to assist those in need. Experts have stated that the Chinese government is highly unlikely to accept this request, as the Dalai Lama is seen as a dangerous destabilizing force.

China has been hard-hit by earthquakes in recent times, the most notable being a 2008 disaster which took the lives of over 60,000.

2010 has been particularly hard-hit by earthquakes.