Just hours after the disaster struck, the Communist Party machine tried to rally its grassroots to stem any signs of discontent of its handling of the landslide.
A notice came from the local party office urging members to step up and help in disaster relief efforts in their area and provide emotional guidance or psychological support to affected residents.
The key line instructs them to “make every effort to maintain social order and ensure stability and public confidence in the disaster areas”. Those who perform well would be rewarded – and those who do badly “would be held accountable”.
It is a warning that will not be taken lightly. Tibetans in the region can be detained or arrested for speaking to journalists or posting anything online that is seen as contrary to the government narrative, according to rights activists.
That is making it difficult for Tibetans outside the region to find out what has happened to their relatives.
The International Campaign for Tibet, while praising the work of first responders in the area, said Beijing had been removing videos and other first-hand information from social media. It called on Chinese authorities to “disclose complete and verifiable information about the damage and casualties”.
To try to understand what life is like for Tibetans, the BBC travelled to a town that sits on the edge of the Himalayan plateau last year – just outside what China calls the Tibetan Autonomous region.
There, we spoke to monks at the Kirti monastery in Aba, or Ngaba in Tibetan, which was once at the heart of its resistance to Beijing. “We Tibetans are denied basic human rights,” one monk told us.
They said they lived under constant surveillance and claimed the Chinese government oppressed and persecuted Tibetans. The conversations were brief because we could not be seen speaking to anyone for long.
Beijing denies it is violating Tibetans’ rights, and points to the heavy investments it has made in the region to boost tourism and integrate it with the rest of the country.
Nevertheless, people in China will not know very much about what is happening in Tibet right now.
