China is concealing scale of flood disaster, say Tibet campaigners

Rights group claims 300 homes were destroyed in Tibet and number of missing people is ‘far higher’ than Beijing admits A Tibetan advocacy group says hundreds of homes were destroyed on the Tibetan side of the border in last week’s deadly floods, raising questions about Beijing’s official account of the scale of the disaster. Public discussion about the flash floods has been restricted, with security officials in Tibet announcing on Sunday that it had penalised at least 10 people for sharing “false disaster information”. There was no further information on the nature of the penalties. Chinese authorities say 16 people have been confirmed dead and 546 are missing, including 261 foreign citizens. But the International Campaign for Tibet says its sources believe the number of casualties is significantly higher, with at least 300 homes destroyed. Tencho Gyatso, the president of the campaign group, told the Guardian: “What is visible in Nepal exposes what is being concealed in Tibet. Four villages – Sale, Serchung, Labi and Rizi – were among the hardest hit, with approximately 300 homes reportedly destroyed and many people still missing.” She said the “little information that we can gath