Photographs from Palu, home to around 350,000 on the coast of Sulawesi island, showed partially covered bodies on the ground near the shore, the morning after tsunami waves as high as 1.5 metres (five feet) slammed into the city.

The tsunami was triggered by a strong quake that brought down several buildings and sent locals fleeing their homes for higher ground as a churning wall of water crashed into Palu.

Dramatic video footage filmed from the top floor of a parking ramp in Palu, nearly 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the quake’s epicentre, showed waves of water bring down several buildings and inundate a large mosque.

The shallow 7.5 magnitude tremor was more powerful than a series of quakes that killed hundreds on the Indonesian island of Lombok in July and August.

People living hundreds of kilometres from the epicentre reported feeling the massive shake, hours after a smaller jolt killed at least one person in the same part of the Southeast Asian archipelago.

The quake hit just off central Sulawesi at a depth of 10 kilometres just before 6:00 pm local time (1100 GMT), the US Geological Survey said. Such shallow quakes tend to be more destructive.

“There are reports that many buildings collapsed in the earthquake,” national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said in a statement.

“Residents panicked and scattered out of their homes.”

Pictures supplied by the agency showed a badly damaged shopping mall in Palu where at least one floor had collapsed onto the storey below, while other photographs showed major damage to buildings and large cracks across pavements.

Search and rescue teams have been dispatched to hard-hit areas, Nugroho said.

Airport closed

The main airport in Palu — a city of 350,000 — was shut after the tsunami struck and was expected to stay closed for at least 24 hours.

Friday’s tremor was centred 78 kilometres north of Palu, the capital of Central Sulawesi province, but was felt in the far south of the island in its largest city Makassar and on the neighbouring island of Kalimantan, Indonesia’s portion of Borneo island.

The initial tremor, which was followed by a series of powerful aftershocks, struck as evening prayers were about to begin in the world’s biggest Muslim majority country on the holiest day of the week, when mosques are especially busy.

Quakes of similar magnitude can cause great damage to poorly built or badly designed structures, including the toppling of chimneys, columns and walls, according to USGS.

Indonesia is one of the most disaster-prone nations on earth.

It lies on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, where tectonic plates collide and many of the world’s volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur.

Earlier this year, a series of powerful quakes hit Lombok, killing more than 550 people on the holiday island and neighbouring Sumbawa.

Some 1,500 people were injured and about 400,000 residents were displaced after their homes were destroyed.

Indonesia has been hit by a string of other deadly quakes including a devastating 9.1 magnitude tremor that struck off the coast of Sumatra in 2004.

That quake triggered a tsunami that killed 220,000 throughout the region, including 168,000 in Indonesia.

The shallow 7.5 magnitude tremor was more powerful than a series of quakes that killed hundreds on the Indonesian island of Lombok in July and August.

The tsunami waves triggered by the latest quake reached a maximum height of 1.5 metres (five feet), the disaster agency said, with video footage showing a churning wall of water slamming into Palu city on Sulawesi island.

Dramatic video footage filmed from the top floor of a parking ramp in Palu, nearly 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the quake’s epicentre, showed waves of water bring down several buildings and inundate a large mosque.

There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries after the tremor, but people living hundreds of kilometres from the epicentre reported feeling the massive shake, hours after a smaller jolt killed at least one person in the same part of the Southeast Asian archipelago.

The quake hit just off central Sulawesi at a depth of 10 kilometres just before 6:00 pm local time (1100 GMT), the US Geological Survey said. Such shallow quakes tend to be more destructive.

“There are reports that many buildings collapsed in the earthquake,” national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said in a statement.

“Residents panicked and scattered out of their homes.”

Pictures supplied by the agency showed a badly damaged shopping mall in Palu where at least one floor had collapsed onto the storey below, while other photographs showed major damage to buildings and large cracks across pavements.

Search and rescue teams have been dispatched to hard-hit areas, Nugroho said.

Airport closed

The main airport in Palu — a city of 350,000 — was shut after the tsunami struck and was expected to stay closed for at least 24 hours.

Friday’s tremor was centred 78 kilometres north of Palu, the capital of Central Sulawesi province, but was felt in the far south of the island in its largest city Makassar and on the neighbouring island of Kalimantan, Indonesia’s portion of Borneo island.

The initial tremor, which was followed by a series of powerful aftershocks, struck as evening prayers were about to begin in the world’s biggest Muslim majority country on the holiest day of the week, when mosques are especially busy.

Quakes of similar magnitude can cause great damage to poorly built or badly designed structures, including the toppling of chimneys, columns and walls, according to USGS.

Indonesia is one of the most disaster-prone nations on earth.

It lies on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, where tectonic plates collide and many of the world’s volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur.

Earlier this year, a series of powerful quakes hit Lombok, killing more than 550 people on the holiday island and neighbouring Sumbawa.

Some 1,500 people were injured and about 400,000 residents were displaced after their homes were destroyed.

Indonesia has been hit by a string of other deadly quakes including a devastating 9.1 magnitude tremor that struck off the coast of Sumatra in 2004.

That quake triggered a tsunami that killed 220,000 throughout the region, including 168,000 in Indonesia.

The shallow 7.5 magnitude quake sparked terror among locals who fled into the streets and raced to higher ground fearing tsunami waves.

The disaster agency briefly issued a tsunami warning before lifting it.

But dramatic video footage filmed from the top floor of a parking ramp spiral in Palu, a city of 350,000 nearly 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the quake’s epicentre, showed a churning wall of whitewater mow down several buildings and inundate a large mosque.

The tsunami reached a maximum height of 1.5 metres (five feet), the disaster agency later said.

People living hundreds of kilometres from the epicentre reported feeling the massive shake, hours after a smaller jolt killed at least one person in the same part of the Southeast Asian archipelago.

There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries after the latest tremor, but it was a higher magnitude than a series of quakes that killed hundreds on the island of Lombok this summer.

The quake hit just off central Sulawesi at a shallow depth of some 10 kilometres just before 6:00 pm local time (1100 GMT), the US Geological Survey said.

“There are reports that many buildings collapsed in the earthquake,” national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said in a statement.

“Residents panicked and scattered out of their homes.”

Pictures supplied by the agency showed a badly damaged shopping mall in Palu where at least one floor had collapsed onto the storey below.

Other pictures showed major damage to buildings, with rubble strewn about the road and large cracks running through pavements.

Facebook Live video showed long traffic jams formed in some parts of the region as terrified residents packed into cars, trucks and motorbikes to flee to higher ground following the tsunami warning.

Search and rescue teams have been dispatched to hard-hit areas, Nugroho said.

AFP phone calls to several regional hospitals went unanswered and Palu’s main airport was closed around 7.30 pm local time, with authorities saying it would not open for 24 hours.

Friday’s tremor was centred 78 kilometres north of Palu, the capital of Central Sulawesi province, but was felt in the far south of the island in its largest city Makassar and on the neighbouring island of Kalimantan, Indonesia’s portion of Borneo island.

The initial tremor struck as evening prayers were about to begin in the world’s biggest Muslim majority country on the holiest day of the week when mosques would be especially busy.

It was followed by a series of powerful aftershocks, including one measuring 5.7 magnitude.

‘Earthquake, earthquake!’

“I was about to start prayers but then I heard people shouting ‘earthquake! earthquake!’ so I stopped,” Andi Temmaeli from Wajo, south of Palu, told AFP.

Lisa Soba Palloan, a resident of Toraja, also south of Palu, said locals felt several quakes Friday.

“The last one was quite big,” she said.

“Everyone was getting out their homes, shouting in fear.”

Quakes of similar magnitude can cause great damage to poorly built or designed structures, including the toppling of chimneys, columns and walls, according to USGS.

Indonesia is one of the most disaster-prone nations on earth.

It lies on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, where tectonic plates collide and many of the world’s volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur.

This summer, a series of powerful quakes hit Lombok, killing more than 550 people on the holiday island and neighbouring Sumbawa.

Some 1,500 people were injured and about 400,000 residents were displaced after their homes were destroyed.

Indonesia has been hit by a string of other deadly quakes including a devastating 9.1 magnitude tremor that struck off the coast of Sumatra in 2004.

That quake triggered a tsunami that killed 220,000 throughout the region, including 168,000 in Indonesia.

The Boxing Day disaster was the world’s third biggest quake since 1900, and lifted the ocean floor in some places by 15 metres.

Indonesia’s Aceh province was the hardest hit area, but the tsunami affected coastal areas as far away as Africa.

Among the country’s other big earthquakes, a 6.3-magnitude quake in 2006 rocked a densely populated region of Java near the city of Yogyakarta, killing around 6,000 people and injuring 38,000.

More than 420,000 people were left homeless and some 157,000 houses were destroyed.

A year earlier, in 2005, a quake measuring 8.7 magnitude struck off the coast of Sumatra, which is particularly prone to quakes, killing 900 people and injuring 6,000.

It caused widespread destruction on the western island of Nias.

There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries. “There are reports that many buildings collapsed in the earthquake,” national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said in a statement.

“Residents panicked and scattered out of their homes.”

Pictures supplied by the agency showed a badly damaged shopping mall in the city of Palu where at least one floor had collapsed onto the storey below.

Other pictures showed major damage to buildings, with rubble strewn about the road and large cracks running through pavement.

Search and rescue teams have been dispatched to hard-hit areas, Nugroho said.

The quake hit central Sulawesi island at a shallow depth of some 10 kilometres (six miles), the US Geological Survey said, just hours after a smaller jolt killed at least one person in the same part of the country.

The disaster agency briefly issued a tsunami warning before lifting it.

AFP phone calls to several regional hospitals went unanswered.

The latest quake was a higher magnitude than those that killed hundreds on the island of Lombok earlier this year.

Friday’s tremor was centred 78 kilometres north of Palu, the capital of Central Sulawesi province, but was felt in the far south of the island in its largest city Makassar and on the neighbouring island of Kalimantan, Indonesia’s portion of Borneo island.

The initial tremor struck as evening prayers were about to begin in the world’s biggest Muslim majority country on the holiest day of the week when mosques would be especially busy.

It was followed by a series of powerful aftershocks, including one measuring 5.7 magnitude.

 – ‘Earthquake, earthquake!’ –

“I was about to start prayers but then I heard people shouting ‘earthquake! earthquake!’ so I stopped,” Andi Temmaeli from Wajo, south of Palu, told AFP.

Lisa Soba Palloan, a resident of Toraja, also south of Palu, said locals felt several quakes Friday.

“The last one was quite big,” she said. “Everyone was getting out their homes, shouting in fear.” Indonesia is one of the most disaster-prone nations on earth.

The Southeast Asian archipelago nation lies on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, where tectonic plates collide and many of the world’s volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur.

This summer, a series of powerful quakes hit Lombok, killing over 550 people on the holiday island and neighbouring Sumbawa.

Some 1,500 people were injured and about 400,000 residents were displaced after their homes were destroyed.

Indonesia has been hit by a string of other deadly quakes including a devastating 9.1 magnitude tremor that struck off the coast of Sumatra in 2004.

That quake triggered a tsunami that killed 220,000 throughout the region, including 168,000 in Indonesia.

The Boxing Day disaster was the world’s third biggest quake since 1900, and lifted the ocean floor in some places by 15 metres.

Indonesia’s Aceh province was the hardest hit area, but the tsunami affected coastal areas as far away as Africa.

Among the country’s other big earthquakes, a 6.3-magnitude quake in 2006 rocked a densely populated region of Java near the city of Yogyakarta, killing around 6,000 people and injuring 38,000.

More than 420,000 people were left homeless and some 157,000 houses were destroyed.

A year earlier, in 2005, a quake measuring 8.7 magnitude struck off the coast of Sumatra, which is particularly prone to quakes, killing 900 people and injuring 6,000.

It caused widespread destruction on the western island of Nias.

The chairwoman said the waves struck at least two locations in the province, namely Mamuju and the provincial capital of Palu.

“According to our tide gauge in Mamuju, a rise in the sea level of 6 centimeters was recorded in the city at 5:27 p.m. Jakarta time. Meanwhile, witnesses in the field saw a 1.5-meter rise in the sea level in Palu,” Dwikorita said during a press briefing on Friday.

She claimed the height of the waves decreased gradually, prompting the agency to end the tsunami warning status at 5:36 p.m.

The agency confirmed a tsunami had struck the province hours after videos of what appeared to be a tsunami hitting Palu Grand Mall and Baiturrahman Mosque had been circulating online.

Critics have questioned why the agency decided to revoke the warning when a tsunami did take place.

The BMKG issued a tsunami warning for the western and central part of Sulawesi at 5:07 p.m. The warning, however, was revoked around 30 minutes later.

According to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), the BMKG had initially given a different reason for revoking the warning.

“The decision was based on visual monitoring and further monitoring using the equipment [tsunami detection buoys] at the sea for 30 minutes. The BMKG did not see any significant change in the sea level. That’s why they ended the alert,” BNPB spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said in a statement.

The 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit Donggala regency, around 73 kilometers from Palu, at 5:02 p.m. Jakarta time. Sutopo said in a written statement that the epicenter of the quake was located about 27 km north-east of Donggala at a depth of 10 km.

The footage purportedly shows a number of small restaurants near the Palu Grand Mall swept away by the wave.

Video : https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/1045661505251827712

It also shows the water hitting the heavily damaged Baiturrahman Mosque located next to the mall.

The Jakarta Post could not independently verify the authenticity of the video, but a Google Maps search of the Palu Grand Mall and Baiturrahman Mosque resulted in images that match the landscape and landmarks shown in the video.

Iksam, an official of the Central Sulawesi Museum in Palu, confirmed the event to The Jakarta Post. “Yes, there was a smashing of seawater,” he said, before the phone connection broke down.

The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) had issued but then quickly revoked a tsunami warning after the strong earthquake occurred at 5:02 p.m. Jakarta time, only a few hours after the first earthquake.

The USGS website mentions a 7.5-magnitude quake.

National and Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said in a release on Friday that the quake hit the area about 27 kilometers north east of Donggala, at a depth of 10 km.

The earthquake was larger in magnitude than the 2006 Yogyakarta earthquake, which measured 6.4 in magnitude, and the recent 7.0-magnitude Lombok earthquake in August.

    The quake hit central Sulawesi island at a shallow depth of some 10 kilometres (six miles), the US Geological Survey said. The country’s national disaster agency briefly issued a tsunami warning before cancelling it.

There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries. But the latest quake was a higher magnitude than those that killed hundreds on the island of Lombok earlier this year.

Friday’s tremor was centred 78 kilometres north of the city of Palu, the capital of Central Sulawesi province, but was felt in the far south of the island in its largest city Makassar.

Lisa Soba Palloan, a resident of Toraja, around 175 kilometres south of Palu, said locals felt several quakes Friday.

“The last one was quite big,” she said. “Everyone was getting out their homes, shouting in fear.”

Indonesia is one of the most disaster-prone nations on earth.

The Southeast Asian archipelago nation lies on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, where tectonic plates collide and many of the world’s volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur.

This summer, a series of powerful quakes hit Lombok, killing over 550 people on the holiday island and neighbouring Sumbawa.

Some 1,500 people were injured and about 400,000 residents were displaced after their homes were destroyed.

Indonesia has been hit by a string of other deadly quakes including a devastating 9.1 magnitude tremor that struck off the coast of Sumatra in 2004.

That quake triggered a tsunami that killed 220,000 throughout the region, including 168,000 in Indonesia.

The Boxing Day disaster was the world’s third biggest quake since 1900, and lifted the ocean floor in some places by 15 metres.

Indonesia’s Aceh province was the hardest hit area, but the tsunami affected coastal areas as far away as Africa.

Among the country’s other big earthquakes, a 6.3-magnitude quake in 2006 rocked a densely populated region of Java near the city of Yogyakarta, killing around 6,000 people and injuring 38,000.

More than 420,000 people were left homeless and some 157,000 houses were destroyed.

A year earlier, in 2005, a quake measuring 8.7 magnitude struck off the coast of Sumatra, which is particularly prone to quakes, killing 900 people and injuring 6,000.

It caused widespread destruction on the western island of Nias.

“(The right to dye or perm one’s hair is) part of one’s basic rights,” said Cho Hee-yeon, the superintendent of SMOE. “We would like to create a learning environment where one enjoys both a sense of freedom and the values of democracy.”

According to a study by a group of parents, which surveyed some 200 middle and high schools nationwide, 88 percent of the schools ban students from dyeing or perming their hair. Students were advised to prioritize their studies, not their appearance.

n 2012. the SMOE advised all schools to give students the freedom to choose the length of their hair.

In the 1990s and 2000s, many schools only allowed short hair for both male and female students. Most school girls were forced to keep their hair length no longer than three to five centimeters from the tip of the earlobe.

Lee Min-jin, an activist for youth rights, said while she welcomes Cho’s decision, adding that it should have been made much earlier.

“There has never been any clear or logical reasons why students’ hairstyles had to be controlled by the authority figures,” said Lee, who currently leads an NGO that advocates the right of youth to vote and protest against violence against minors.

“Some of the reasons we heard include ‘students should look like students,’ and ‘students must look appropriate for their age.’ We think this was one of the ways the government has been controlling the bodies of the minor, a form of subtle violence that has been around for years.”

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Kim Do-yeon, a high school student in Seoul, said while she also welcomes Cho’s decision, there are many other areas where she feels the rights of students are being violated.

“I personally think my school uniform is too tight, and it’s unfair that we are only allowed to wear this to school,” she told The Korea Herald. “The way we look, the way we dress and the way we spend our (leisure)time should be our own business.”

“The people who wrote a book alleging that Jho Low (fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho) ‘fooled a prime minister, the banks and the world’ have chosen a BN supporting actress Michelle Yeoh to produce it!” Sarawak Report tweeted Friday (Sept 28).

“Suggest people watch the other upcoming film The Sarawak Report for the real story!” it added.

The tweet follows a series of blogposts where the whistleblower website editor Clare Rewcastle Brown alleged that Billion Dollar Whale co-author Tom Wright had received sensitive 1MDB documents from her source without crediting The Sarawak Report despite promises to do so.

Rewcastle Brown also revealed plans to option her book “The Sarawak Report: The Inside Story of the 1MDB Exposé” for a movie.

The latest tweet comes hours after Wright announced that Ivanhoe Pictures had acquired film rights to the book with Yeoh slated to co-produce the movie.

Ivanhoe Pictures, an SKL Global company, co-financed and co-produced Crazy Rich Asians, which also stars Yeoh as Eleanor Young.

Yeoh had previously shared a photo of her reading Billion Dollar Whale on Facebook, which she described as a “fascinating book”.

Malaysians slammed her for her continuous support of former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Barisan before the 14th general election.

During the 13th general election in 2013, she openly expressed support for then Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and continued to defend her decision despite the criticism.

There had previously been no evidence the disease could jump from rats to humans, the University of Hong Kong said Friday, warning the discovery had “major public health significance”.

“This study conclusively proves for the first time in the world that rat HEV can infect humans to cause clinical infection,” the university added.

Rat hepatitis E virus is very distantly related to human hepatitis E virus variants, HKU said.

The disease was found in a 56-year-old man who persistently produced abnormal liver function tests following a liver transplant.

He could have contracted the illness through food infected by rat droppings, researchers said, according to details of the findings reported in the South China Morning Post.

The man lived in a housing estate where there were signs of rat infestation outside his home. He is now recovering after being treated for the virus, the SCMP added.

The human version of hepatitis E is a liver disease that affects 20 million people globally each year, according to the World Health Organisation.

It is usually spread through contaminated drinking water.

Symptoms include fever, vomiting and jaundice, and in rare cases liver failure.

Rodent problems in Hong Kong have escalated in recent months because of a sustained spell of hot and humid weather.

Hong Kong has been hit hard by disease outbreaks in the past.

In 2003, almost 300 people died from SARS — severe acute respiratory syndrome.

The bubonic plague, carried by rats, swept through mainland China and Hong Kong in the late 19th century killing thousands.