Asia
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Magnitude 7.7 earthquake strikes off Flores, killing at least five
A powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off Indonesia’s Flores Island early Saturday, killing at least five people, damaging buildings and prompting thousands of residents to evacuate to higher ground after authorities issued a tsunami warning. The earthquake struck at 5:58 am. local time, according to the US Geological Survey, while Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) recorded the quake at 4:58 am. Western Indonesia Time. BMKG placed the epicentre about 30 kilometres northeast of Mbay in Nagekeo Regency, at a depth of 15 kilometres.
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Tunnel collapses at Indian hydropower project, killing at least 7
A tunnel under construction at a hydropower project in India’s northern hill state of Uttarakhand collapsed overnight, leaving at least seven workers dead, officials said Friday. A sudden rush of water and debris entered the tunnel at the Vishnugad-Pipalkoti hydroelectric project in Chamoli district late Thursday night, triggering the collapse, according to top district official Gaurav Kumar.
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4 dead, thousands evacuate as torrential rain batters eastern Japan
Four people have died and another remains unresponsive after torrential rain battered eastern Japan from Thursday into early Friday, triggering widespread flooding and high-level emergency alerts. The Japan Meteorological Agency briefly issued a Level 5 warning — the highest on its disaster alert scale — covering more than one-third of the municipalities in Chiba Prefecture near Tokyo. All emergency warnings were downgraded on Friday morning.
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Cow electrocuted to death, villagers vandalise transformer in India
Villagers in Madhya Pradesh vandalised a transformer and nearby electricity poles after a cow was electrocuted to death, allegedly due to power leakage from the transformer. Local residents attributed the incident to negligence by the electricity department. Angered by the death of the animal, the villagers attacked the transformer and surrounding power poles with sticks and other objects. A video of the incident has been widely circulated on social media.