Himalayan Times (1954)

August 22, 1954

Nine

GRAPHIC ACCOUNT OF TIBETAN
DISASTER

Darjeeling, August 19

Bad omens, the sudden
and wild rushing of waters,
caravans of pitiful refugees,
and devastated villages in which
even the dogs failed to bark,
are some of the haunting re-
collections brought to India by
Air. Pemba Thondup, emissary
from the Peking Government
and first important eve-witness

■ of the floods which have cripp
led important centres of Tibet.

Pemba Thondup left Lhasa
on July 17 carrying an impor-
tant message from the Peking
Governmant to Mr. Gyalo
Thondup, elder brother of the
Dalai Lama at Darjeeling. The
letter contained a delicate re-
quest—the transfer of the
Dalai Lama's youngest sister
his nephew and niece, who are
. sludyingal a Darjenling school)
to Peking. The Chinese Go-
vernment promised to attend
to their every comfort . and
general well-being. Mr. Gyalo

■ Thondup, guardian of the child-
ren, had himself studied at
Peking and Nanking. Pemba
Thondup had accompanied him
then.

On the second day of his
trek Pemba found the Brah-
Miaputra near Chusal in spate

and so was unable to affect a
crossing. While waiting there
for the river to subside news
of the disaster at Gyantse
filtered through to ^ him. It
came with refugees from the
devastated areas-at first a few
small landholders, stunned at
the sud.lenness of the catastro-
phe and carrying ■ with them
a few salvaged belongings, a
rare rug perhaps or a family
heirlcom.

At about 11 p.m. on July
16, they said, the Takri Tsoma
Lake 25 miles frcm Gyantse
overflowed, not slowly but with
a sudden great rushing of water,
piled high. The flood joined
the swollen waters of the Nyang
Chu river and at 2 a. m. while
people slept unsuspecting in
their homes, the great torrent
swept through Gyantse.

Fear Still-Born

Even fear Was still-born as
people caught in sleep were
carried suddenly to death.
Houses collapsed and survivors
of the .first desperate onrush
climbed onto the rooftops of
these buildings left standing.
Trees, with people seening
shelter in their branches, were
uprooted and acted as battering
rams against the resisting walls.
The toll of human and animal
life was considerable. Only
the Government fort and Pelco
Monastery with its 500 monks,
remained intact.

In nearby Shigatse a large
tree in the grounds of the
Panchen Lama's i'alace sudden-

ly collapse?]. Seventeen people
w ho had climbed it for safety
plunged to their deaths.

Pemba's home was in •
Dongze, 20 miles from Gyan-
tse and in the path of the
flood, but he had to-wait two
more days before he could cross
the river and make for his
home.

Across the river and on
the road to Gyantse the full
horror of his people's plight
become more and more appa-
rent. Refugees, terror-stricken
and in rags kept passing him.
Women with children strapped
to their backs, the old and
the infirm, half starved and near
naked the dying being left to
die, and all along the way
corpses and carcases. About
them all were'' «ndless empty
fields of soggy earth. Above
them crows and voltures.

Bad Omen

Terrified people, telling
their beads or muttering pra-
yers all the while, would say,
when asked. ''It is a bad
omen. The gods are angry at
our God-king's departure. They
will destroy us all-it is a great
misfortune."

Pemba came te Gyantse
on July 23. The valley of
Dongze, his home was one
vast sheet of turbulent water.
Fortunately his house high on
a mountainside, had survived
theHood. His family were safe.
But so many other families he
had known had perished and
with them so many friends,
so many relatives. He trekked
• on to Gyantse-now a pile of
rubble and ruins, unrecongni-
zable after seven days of flood
and whe e an estimated 1,500
or more^lives had been lost.,
Then he brought the letter to
Darjeeling. /

(Continued on page 10)