Tibet Rocked by Multiple Wildfires

By Tenzin Chokyi

DHARAMSALA, 7 Feb: Some major forest fires have ravaged various parts of occupied Tibet in the last two weeks, with the Kamda forest fire in Dzamthang County in Ngaba in the traditional Tibetan Province of Amdo being the most recent one. Notably, the fire breakouts have largely gone unreported by Chinese state-owned media.

Although Chinese firefighting teams announced on 5 February that they had contained the fire and claimed there was no damage to people or property, Tibet Times reported that the fire was still burning in the Kamda forest hills the next day(6th Feb).  The officials have reportedly assured to extinguish the fire by the end of the day completely, 

While it is suspected that the fire started due to burning electrical wires from power poles in the forest, the exact cause of the fire has not yet been determined. It is stated that the forest area is owned by the Chinese Government and not local Tibetans. 

There are no reports of the fire breakouts across Chinese state-owned media, but information on the same has surfaced on social media platforms like Douyin and WeChat, where local residents have shown great concerns over the failure to contain the fires for weeks due to the inefficiency on the part of the Chinese Government. 

Reports indicate that the largest fire broke out on 23 Jan in the forested area of Kyirong in the Chinese-occupied Tibet, which reportedly blazed for two weeks, while two other fires broke out in Kham Drachen and Kham Nyagchuka on 2 February.

After the fire broke out on 2 February, authorities reportedly issued a warning on 5 February through their official WeChat account about inclement weather conditions- including strong winds and dry conditions – expected over the next three days that could worsen the situation.

According to a video on Douyin(Tiktok) from Kham Drachen, officials have ignored residents’ pleas for assistance after 11 days of continuous fire, leaving the local Tibetan community to deal with the situation without any government support. 

In another video of the blaze from the Drachen area, Tibetans are heard requesting viewers to recite prayers to contain the fire and for the countless wild animals and insects in the forest that are perishing in the blaze.