Asia News Wrap: Nepal reels from giant quake and aftershocks, and more

Here are a few stories from around Asia you may have missed this week.

Fifty-seven people were killed and hundreds injured when Nepal’s worst earthquake in eight years hit a remote part of the northwest of the country on November 3. The quake shook buildings as far away as India’s capital, New Delhi. Nepal’s National Seismological Center said the quake occurred at 11:47 p.m. on Friday in the Jajarkot district of Karnali province. Jajarkot is about 500 kilometers west of the capital Kathmandu. 

Officials say at least 5,000 homes were destroyed or damaged. The devastation continued into the week when a magnitude-5.2 aftershock struck on Monday, followed by another slightly smaller one, injuring more people. The country cradled within the Himalayan mountains sits on the fault lines of two major tectonic plates, and scientists have been warning that the country should be better prepared against large earthquakes.

After a week of deadly smog in New Delhi, India’s environment minister said on Wednesday that authorities would try to induce rain to clear the skies. The state government issued a notice earlier in the day to close all government and private schools from Thursday until November 18 on winter break, which was originally scheduled for January. 

The Supreme Court ordered states surrounding New Delhi on Tuesday to stop farmers burning crop residue. The state government also implemented an odd-even vehicle license plate scheme. It only allows vehicles whose registration number ends in even digits on roads on even dates and those with odd last digits on roads on odd dates.

Bangladesh raised the minimum monthly salary for the country’s four million garment workers by 56.25 percent on Tuesday. The country’s 3,500 garment factories account for around 85 percent of its $55 billion in annual exports. The decision was rejected by unions seeking a near-tripling of the figure. The country supplies some of the biggest clothing lines in the world of fashion, including H&M, Zara and Levi’s. 

Factory owners had said the wage hike, which comes ahead of a January general election, would cramp their profits by increasing costs 5-6 percent. Asked if they would raise purchase prices by the 5-6 percent, Stephen Lamar, chief executive of the American Apparel & Footwear Association, told Reuters: “Absolutely… As we and our members have reiterated several times now, we are committed to responsible purchasing practices to support the wage increases.”

Southeast Asia’s largest floating solar plant was inaugurated on Thursday above the Cirata Reservoir in West Java Province of Indonesia by President Joko Widodo. Constructed by China’s PowerChina Huadong Engineering Corporation, the plant is a collaboration project between Indonesia’s state electricity corporation PLN and the United Arab Emirates energy company Masdar, with an investment of $145 million. 

Spread over the reservoir surface area of 250 hectares with more than 340,000 solar panels, the 192-megawatt-peak capacity power plant can produce 300 million kilowatt hours annually, complementing the hydropower generation available in the reservoir.

(Cover: An aerial view shows collapsed houses in the aftermath of an earthquake in Chiuri village of Jajarkot district, Nepal. November 5, 2023. /CFP)