Tibetan monks attend a cremation ceremony for an earthquake victim at the earthquake-hit Gyegu town of Yushu county, China, April 21, 2010 (Reuters/Stringer).BEIJING (AP) – Chinese authorities said Friday that Buddhist monks had been advised to leave an earthquake zone in a Tibetan region because specialized personnel were needed for reconstruction work, rejecting accusations that they had been told to leave for political reasons.
The death toll from last week's earthquake rose to 2,187, with schoolchildren accounting for some 200 deaths. The State Council, China's Cabinet, issued a statement in response to The Associated Press' questions about why Tibetan monks were told this week to leave Yushu county, the epicenter of the quake in a remote corner of western Qinghai province. More>>
