Indonesia Earthquake Liquefied the Ground, How Did That Happen?


A woman walks past the wreckage of cars which was flattened by Friday's earthquake in Balaroa neighborhood in Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia Indonesia, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2018
AP Photo/Dita Alangkara

Updates: Death toll climbs to 1,407, including 120 foreign nationals | Volcano Erupts on Same Indonesian Island as Earlier Quake

Liquefied soil caused numerous buildings to collapse in the Indonesian city of Palu after Friday's magnitude 7.5 earthquake, which has killed more than 800 people.

Indonesia quake turns ground into liquid BBC News








Satellite images of the Petobo district, south of Palu's airport, showed another large area of urban development seemingly wiped clear of buildings.

"When the quake hit, the layers below the surface of the earth became muddy and loose," said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman of Indonesia’s national disaster mitigation agency.






"Compared with what's been formed naturally over a long period of time, what's manmade has been constructed for a short period of time, where soil particles are only loosely connected to each other," said Toshitaka Kamai, professor at Kyoto University's Disaster Prevention Research Institute.


"It renders underground pipes mangled mess. One of its characteristics is it takes time to recover (from liquefaction damage)," Yoshiharu Yokoyama, an executive at Jibannet Co Ltd, which provides soil analysis services.




