By Tenzin Chokyi

DHARAMSALA 28 Jan: The National Seismological Centre(NSC) in New Delhi has reverted to using Tibet and “Tibet Autonomous Region” instead of “Xizang” on their website after Vtag members Tenzin Damdul and Tenzin Lhatso based in New Delhi met with the NCS director Dr O.P Mishra last week to address the use of the Chinese colonial name “Xizang” in the recent reports on the devastating Tingri Earthquake in occupied Tibet.

Earlier, the NCS issued more than 50 reports on the earthquake and its aftershocks from 6-19 January, and all of them have referred to Tibet as “Xizang.” These reports have been posted on the NCS’s official X(formerly Twitter) account and their official website page.

After NSC’s reversion, Damdul told Tibet Express over the phone that NSC assured them of changes when they met on 21st Jan, and Director Mishra clarified that Tibet is the official nomenclature used in India’s geopolitical framework when they inquired about any potential shift in India’s policy towards Tibet.

 “There are still several other countries using the Chinese colonial name “Xizang” instead of Tibet in their official seismological sites directly run by the government,” Damdul said and urged countries like the UK, Switzerland, the US and the Netherlands to stop using the term “Xizang” in their Government-operated seismology websites following commendable change by the NSC.

The UK has used “Tibet(Xizang)” and “Tibet, SW China,” and the Netherlands have used “Tibet, China” in its report while using “Xizang, China” in the map. Switzerland has outright used “Xizang.”

Damdul, who is also a researcher at the Foundation for the Non-Violent Alternatives based in Delhi, concluded by suggesting that the Tibetans should lobby these institutions run by the respective governments to right the wrong by following the leadership exemplified by India. 

India’s primary agency for monitoring and studying earthquakes, in its latest earthquake report on 27 Jan, has used Tibet instead of “Xizang”. However, NSC’s previous reports continue to refer to Tibet as “Xizang”.