As monks set fire to piles of the bodies of China's earthquake victims, the Dalai Lama is appealing to Beijing to allow him to visit the earthquake-ravaged area province where he was born to comfort the victims.
Officials told reporters Saturday the death toll from Wednesday's earthquake in Yushu county is 1,339, with 332 people still missing. Officials said 11,849 people were injured, 1,297 of them seriously.
The Dalai Lama, "deeply saddened" by the devastation of the earthquake, said Saturday he would like to visit the site of the earthquake -- in the province where he was born -- to offer solace to the survivors.
"Because of the physical distance between us, at present I am unable to comfort those directly affected, but I would like them to know that I am praying for them," the Dalai Lama said in a statement. "To fulfill the wishes of many of the people there, I am eager to go there myself to offer comfort."
The spiritual leader fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule and has not returned since. The Dalai Lama resides in Dharamsala, India, a hill town that is home to the Tibetan government-in-exile.
There was no immediate response from the Chinese government, which has accused the Dalai Lama of instigating separatism in Tibetan areas of the country.
In his statement, the Dalai Lama also applauded the Chinese authorities for visiting the affected areas and allowing the media to report on the quake.
The scale of the devastation in Yushu forced local Tibetans to break from tradition and burn bodies of the dead Saturday, instead of performing "sky burials," in which the dead are left out for vultures.
Hundreds of villagers sat on a hillside, watching as monks burned piles of the blanket-wrapped dead. Monks at the cremation were unable to say exactly how many bodies were burned.
As the villagers in the mostly Tibetan area perform ceremonies for the dead, relief supplies continued to arrive. Goods arrive by motor vehicle along the single, busy main road from the provincial capital 12 hours away. Officials said Saturday that a forecast of rain and snow over the next few days will make it more difficult to move the injured people out and the relief goods in.
Police said they have increased the security at the areas where relief goods are being handed out after hearing reports of survivors fighting each other for aid.
But authorities say the biggest challenge remains getting enough clean drinking water and food to the approximately 100,000 people who were affected by the earthquake.
In the aftermath of the temblor, residents have been turning to the monks and their traditions instead of the central authority. Both language and culture divide the groups, and the government has had to send hundreds of Tibetan speakers to the region to communicate with the victims.
The population of Yushu county is 93 per cent Tibetan, according to official statistics. However, that tally does not include Han Chinese migrants who have moved there temporarily to open restaurants or work in construction or mines.
The region was largely unaffected by the 1998 unrest in the Tibetan plateau, but authorities have occasionally sealed it off to foreign media and tourists.
With files from The Associated Press
