Indonesia earthquake and tsunami: How warning system failed the victims

[bimr]

For whatever reason, there is very limited coverage of Indonesia tsunami.

Indonesia's meteorological and geophysics agency BMKG issued a tsunami warning just after the initial quake, warning of potential waves of 0.5 to three metres.

But it lifted the warning just over 30 minutes later.

tsunami warning lifted

 

[charliealphabravo]

When you look at the location of the epicenter that was a worst case scenario for Palu at the end of a narrow bay directly open to the approaching wave.

Link

Edit: Yikes!

 

[Agent666]

"If its long and strong, get gone."

Don't wait around for the official warning is the local advice here in NZ. A real shame the lessons of the past don't seem to have been fully heeded.

 

[itsmoked]

I was disappointed about that subject myself. I incorrectly assumed the locals would've ALL been clued into tsunamis after that entire basin was shellacked back in 2004 when a quarter million bought it from one.

How are there not air-raid sirens on all of those islands?

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[jhardy1]

"Indonesia tsunami early detection buoys haven't worked for six years due to 'lack of funding'"

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-...detection-buoys-broken-for-six-years/10324200

This sounds more like an economic / political failure, rather than an engineering failure.

http://julianh72.blogspot.com

 

[SwinnyGG]

How are there not air-raid sirens on all of those islands?

We're talking about a part of the world where clean water and basic sanitation are often huge challenges.

My guess is that the air raid siren budget is pretty far down the list of priorities, and rightfully so.

 

[bimr]

Early warning systems are most useful for areas several hundred kilometers from the tsunami source. In regions like Palu where the earthquake and tsunami source are very close, education appears to be the most effective warning system.

 

[itsmoked]

They don't understand exactly why there was a tsunami since 7.5's don't usually cause any bigger than a few inches. There is speculation that there was a sizable undersea landslide that caused it rather than the actual earthquake. There is even speculation that the slide could be inside the channel leading up to Palu. The channel is apparently mostly steep sided dirt. This is a possibility because there was little tsunami action out by Donggala which was much closer to the quake epicenter.

Death toll up to 1,407 so far...


As if a major quake and tsunami weren't enough for these poor people today the volcano Mount Soputan on the same island erupted at 9AM today.

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[charliealphabravo]

Here is another story that talks about the effects of the shape of the bay and the possibility of an underwater landslide.

Link

 

[bimr]

Video shows how the Indonesia earthquake made the soil flow like a river:

liquefaction

 

[itsmoked]

Amazing that that good video was taken from the roof of a house motoring along in that landslide.

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[itsmoked]

The Indonesian tsunami buoy system has been out of service since 2012.

The Palu communications system was marginal and iffy and went down promptly with the quake. No further ability to get-the-message-out was possible since not even the local authorities or police could be contacted.

If the tsunami was created by a slide inside the bay working buoys at the mouth would've detected the tsunami about the same moment it hit the beach at Palu.

It was like a train with no brakes heading down a monster hill or a bad disaster movie where all the little problems add up to an epic catastrophe.

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com