Contribute to the efforts of the Yushu Earthquake Response team. Keep updated on the Yushu Earthquake Response team's efforts. The Environment of Yushu Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture is located over 500 miles (but a 12-16 hour drive) southwest of Xining, Qinghai Province. The prefecture has an average elevation of 13,000 feet and covers an area larger than Nepal. Conditions are particularly difficult during the long, harsh winters, when temperatures are often well below zero. Three of Asia’s major rivers—the Yellow, the Yangtze, and the Mekong—begin in Yushu, and its ecology is fragile and under threat, as global warming melts glaciers and water that would go to feed the source of rivers evaporates. The People of Yushu Some 97 percent of Yushu's 270,000 people are Tibetan—the largest concentration of Tibetans anywhere in China. The majority of its people are either nomadic or semi-nomadic. The primary economic activities are yak he rding and digging caterpillar fungus (a naturally growing fungus used in Chinese medicine). Official Chinese government statistics put the average 2008 per capita daily income of a Qinghai urban resident at $4.59 and that a Qinghai rural resident at $1.21. The people of rural Yushu live on considerably less than the average Qinghai resident does. Many within the nomadic communities do not have regular access to health care or education, and some families do not have enough food to eat for some part of each year. Some communities have limited electricity and some nomadic communities use solar panels. Transportation in rural areas in limited. In recent years, the Chinese government has begun implementing a nomadic resettlement program, moving families from the grasslands to villages and towns. | 
