The village of Bridim, Tibetan refugee home 83 Passing Lama years, was reduced
to rubble | Photo: BBC World
Tibetans began arriving from China through the Himalayas in 1959, when Beijing's occupation of Tibet was completed
29 April 2015 – 09:12 AM
Nepal earthquake death toll rises by the hour, but the difficulties in keeping accurate accounting are more than understandable.
For now, official figures go for more than 4.310 muertos, almost 8.000 injured and 8 millions of affected.
The chaos typical of a catastrophe such as that caused by the earthquake, and the difficult access to some of the most affected areas, They certainly make counting and identifying victims more complex..
But the task is also complicated by the presence in the country of thousands of ethnic Tibetan refugees., the vast majority without any type of documentation.
Tibetans began arriving from China through the Himalayas in 1959, when Beijing's occupation of Tibet was completed.
And as BBC journalist Rani Singh explains, They have been risking their lives at the dangerous crossing from then until today.
Generally their goal is to find refuge in Nepal or cross the country to reach India..
A small number were processed by authorities and housed in a refugee center in the capital., Kathmandu.
But only a minority of second-generation Tibetans have obtained Nepali nationality, which means that the vast majority live illegally.
"No tienen derechos como otros residentes, no ID cards. No tienen Estado propio y por lo tanto son invisibles", said Singh.
And Nepal avoids the issue because it does not want to upset its powerful neighbor to the north., China, which is also one of the main investors in the country.
The poorest of the poor
The majority of ethnic Tibetans also live quietly outside of Kathmandu., in remote villages scattered in the mountains.
"Esas aldeas están justo en la zona más afectada por el terremoto. But the dead there cannot be formally identified., porque oficialmente no existen", explica Singh.
And ethnically Tibetan villages, as Bridim –located north of Kathmandu and more than 3.000 meters above sea level– They are also among the poorest in the country.
The Dolma Development Fund, one of the few non-governmental organizations that serves people of Tibetan origin in Nepal, has a school near the area, devastated by the worst earthquake in recent 80 years.
"Bridim quedo virtualmente reducida a escombros", Dolma's financial chief told him, Carla Texeira Alvares Kaspar, to the BBC.
"No tenemos idea de cuántas personas pueden haber sobrevivido. Las misiones de rescate no están operando en zonas tan aisladas", He added.
And Texeira Alvares is also concerned about the supply of drinking water in Bhorle, a nearby valley where numerous refugees of Tibetan origin also live.
"Es un gran barrio marginal. We have many children there. And there's only one water pipe coming down from the mountains. Si se desconecta se quedan sin nada y las enfermedades se pueden esparcir muy rápidamente", warned.
La mujer también mencionó "horrendos deslaves" in Dunche.
"No hay casi electricidad ni comunicaciones. And for the refugees, It's like the straw that breaks the camel's back. It was impossible before. Y ahora hay mucha destrucción en Katmandú".
"Las lluvias monzónicas llegarán en un mes o dos, so I don't think they will reestablish electricity or communications with the mountains before December. Todo se va a para por los monzones", lament.
