Palu, Indonesia Earthquake causes Liquefaction (September 28,2018)

 Background of location
Palu is a chartered city on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, at the mouth of the Palu River. It is
the capital of the province of Central Sulawesi, situated on a long, narrow bay. Because of its
sheltered position between mountain ridges, the climate is unusually dry. At the 2010 census
Palu had a population of around 336,300, not including those living in neighboring
regencies. On 28 September 2018, the city suffered many casualties due to a tsunami, where at
least 2,256 people lost their lives, while many others are still buried under the rubble and
presumed dead

Risna Widyaningrum’s report detailed the morphology, geology, and earthquake incidences
that occur many times in the area known as Palu Koro fault. The Palu Koro fault stretches 60 km
long north to south crossing the city of Palu and continues to the bay of Palu next to the city of
Donggala. The Palu Koro fault is moving north at a rate of 40 mm per year, faster than
the Semangko Sumatra fault that moves at a rate of 15 mm per year.

The report found that the soil in the Palu area is from alluvial sediments of the Quaternary
period. The soil is alluvium, with a sandy layer on top (1- 7m), followed by a layer of loam
underneath, and finally a clay layer. A map showed that the groundwater level is considered
shallow (less than 12 m from the surface). Locals said that the Bolaroa area was previously a
swamp, but was built-up and made into a town. Findings from the 2012 report showed that the
area is highly susceptible to liquefaction.

The end of the report shows three zones of liquefaction hazard: low, high, and very high risk.
Petobo and Balaroa villages are in the very high-risk zone. The report recommends that building
foundations should not be established on the sand layers. Also, spatial planning of housing,
industry and important buildings should be made on areas of low LPI.
  Incident Report

A 7.5 magnitude earthquake shook Donggala and Palu in the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia on
September 28, 2018, causing destruction that killed more than 1700 people. Not long, the
public was shocked to see on social media pictures and videos from the disaster location
showing soil flowing like a river, dragging along and wiping out houses and trees.

Liquefaction is a phenomenon when the soil loses its strength due to a sudden stress such as an
earthquake. Aside from shocks and the potential of water rising from a tsunami, people also
need to beware of liquefaction following an earthquake.

Building houses on soil that are prone to liquefaction is extremely dangerous. The houses in the
Balaroa and Petobo villages, a few kilometres from Palu, were on such land. The houses were
still standing when the earthquake hit, and they were not affected by the tsunami. But
moments later, thousands of houses and people in the area were swallowed to the ground
because of liquefaction.

When the strong earthquake shook Palu, the violent tremor underground caused groundwater
to move and seep to the soil pores with high pressure. The strong and sudden pressure to the
soil pores caused soil particles to disperse, losing its strength, turning into mud, bringing down
any building above it. The violent shake also stir the mud and caused it to flow like river,
washing away anything above it: houses, plants, and human.

The susceptibility of an area to liquefaction can be quantified using a measure

called Liquefaction Potential Index (LPI). LPI was formulated by Toshio Iwasaki in 1978, as Japan
frequently suffers from earthquake and faces danger of liquefaction. LPI values below five are
considered low, values between 5-15 are considered high, and above 15 are very high.
Soil science can explain how solid soil can move and swallow thousands of houses.

Soil is made up of minerals of smaller than 2 mm in diameter. These solid particles are grouped
based on their sizes: the coarsest is sand (diameter 0.05 to 2 mm), silt (0.05 mm to 2
micrometers), and the finest is clay (diameter less than 2 micrometers). The mixture of these
three components determine the soil textures. A coarse-textured soil has more sand and less
silt and clay. There’s also medium and fine-textured soils. The coarser the texture, the more
susceptible it is to be liquefied.

Clay holds soil particles together forming larger aggregates. Strong and stable aggregates
support the growth of root plants. A tree can grow large and tall because it stands on a well-
aggregated soil that support the tree. Soil with high strength forms a good foundation for
buildings.

In between the soil particles and aggregates, there are pore spaces. These pores supply air and
water to plants. The finer the pores, the stronger water is held by the soil particles.

Coarse-textured soils tend to have larger pores. When rain drops onto the soil, water fills the
pores. When the pores are full with water, they become saturated, and further water addition
will cause floods. With water inside the pores of the soil, it can also form layers within the
mineral particles, diminishing the soil’s cohesive forces. Clay particles when saturated can also
slake and disperse.

We can witness this in our daily lives. For example after a heavy rainfall you shouldn’t drive a
car on a wet soil lest it’ll get stuck. A sand castle will erect tall if it has a bit of water but will
collapse if it has too much. A landslide occurs when the soil “fails” because of saturation.
  Methods used
The Palu city, which is located in the active seismic zone of the Palu-Koro fault. Several powerful
earthquakes have struck Palu city at previous years. One of the greatest earthquake event
occurred in year 2006 which 6.2 Mw, about more a hundred buildings and houses were
collapsed due to this earthquake. Palu-Koro fault also produced several tsunami events in year
of 1927, 1968 and 1996. The latest earthquake struck Palu on 2012 (7.2 Mw) and it produced
local tsunami. Since no soil profile map of Palu region available, a research is performed single
observations of microtremors at 122 sites in Palu. Its results enabled us to estimate the site-
dependent amplification characteristics of earthquake ground-motion. Also, a test is conducted
an 8-site microtremor array investigation to gain a representative determination of the soil
condition of subsurface structures in Palu. From the dispersion curve of array observations, the
central business district of Palu corresponds to relatively from soft soil to medium condition.
Predominant periods due to horizontal vertical ratios (HVSRs) in Palu are in the range of 1.2 to
2.5 s.

The Central Sulawesi administration will need at least three years to rehabilitate areas most
affected by recent natural disasters, including Palu, Sigi, Donggala and Parigi Moutong
Suprayoga, who is also a planner with the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas),
said the government had reactivated a trust fund for post-disaster rehabilitation, which was
first established in 2010 and is currently managed by Bappenas. The trust fund currently
manages around US$28 million and the government is seeking additional funds.Suprayoga said
the governor was in charge of post-disaster rehabilitation because the Central Sulawesi
earthquake and subsequent tsunami and soil liquefaction were regional disasters and never
declared a national disaster.A powerful earthquake followed by a tsunami and soil liquefaction
rattled the province in September last year, killing 4,340 people and displacing over 170,000
others.In October, the BNPB estimated that the disaster resulted in at least Rp 13.82 trillion in
economic losses, comprising Rp 1.99 trillion in lost income and Rp 11.83 trillion in physical
damages.At least 100,000 houses, 327 places of worship, 265 schools, 78 offices and 362 shops
were damaged in the earthquake. (swd)
Juanita Building Collapses in brgy. Kamputhaw, Cebu city

 Background of location

Cebu City, officially the City of Cebu (Cebuano: Dakbayan sa Sugbu), also known as the Queen
City of the South, is a 1st class highly urbanized city of the island of Cebu in the Central
Visayas Region, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 922,611
people, making it the fifth-most populated city in the nation and the most populous in the
Visayas.
It is the regional center of Central Visayas and is the seat of government for the province
of Cebu, but is governed separately from it. The city is a significant center of commerce, trade
and education in the Visayas. It is the Philippines' main domestic shipping port, and is home to
about 80% of the country's domestic shipping companies.

 Incident Report

CONSTRUCTION of a high-rise condominium on Gorordo Ave. in Barangay Kamputhaw, Cebu

City was ordered halted after a portion of the building next to it collapsed at dawn on Monday,
Aug. 5, 2019. The cave-in was initially blamed on the excavation work for the foundation of a
planned 32-floor edifice being developed by Vista Residences Inc., the condominium
development arm of the Villar-led Vista Land and Lifescapes Inc. Affected was the side of the
Juanita Bldg., which is located at the corner of Gorordo Ave. and Escario St. It used to house the
Social Security System office. The Office of the Building Official (OBO) issued a cease and desist
order and ordered the contractor to stop digging and instead work on the affected area.
Mayor Edgardo Labella, OBO Chief Florante Catalan and City Disaster Risk Reduction
Management Center head Harold Alcontin, who visited the site, witnessed the damage wrought
on the Juanita Bldg. and the contractor’s failure to strengthen the retaining wall that separated
it from the excavation. The contractor has been ordered to submit an incident report to OBO so
the latter can determine what really happened. Based on their inspection, the recent rains
might have caused the ground to soften, Catalan said. Security guards of a bank next door
reported the incident to police. The 42 employees of a business process outsourcing firm inside
Juanita Bldg. were evacuated to safety. Police cordoned off the site to prevent anyone from
entering the damaged building, which also houses a bank and a dialysis center on the first floor.
The building will remain closed, as OBO personnel have yet to finish checking the structure’s
integrity. SunStar Cebu tried to contact the contractor for comment, to no avail.
The contractor may be held liable for violating Section 213 of the Building Code of the
Philippines. Catalan confirmed that OBO received a complaint against the construction during
the time of his predecessor, Josefa Ylanan, but the complaint was ignored.
He said they received another complaint from the management of Juanita Bldg. last month.
“There were findings that during the first drilling of the land, water came out of the area. That’s
the initial cause of the collapse,” he said. Catalan pointed out that the developer did comply
with the setback rule. The OBO chief said the contractor can only resume construction once it
comes up with a solution to the problem of the collapsed portion of the adjacent building.
The top floor of the four-story Juanita Bldg., which houses the office of a subdivision and a call
center, was severely affected by the incident. According to Abellana Police Station Chief Eduard
Sanchez, it was a good thing the BPO employees were on a break during the collapse, while the
bank and the dialysis center on the first floor were closed at the time of the incident.
Gisella Bercilla, 22, and her companion were woken up by the sound of crashing steel and
cement around 2 a.m. on Monday. The two, though, went back to sleep because they thought it
came from the excavation work. “We didn’t go out. So we were shocked when morning came
and we saw what happened,” she said. On April 10, 2012, the retaining wall for the excavation
of Horizons 101 Cebu on Gen. Maxilom Ave. also caved in and damaged 10 houses. On Feb. 22,
2017, three houses were damaged and one person was hurt when a crane of a mall
construction on N. Bacalso Ave. collapsed. (from PAC of Superbalita Cebu/PJB, JOB)
  Method used

Councilor Jerry Guardo, the chairman of the Committee on Infrastructure, said he will be
requesting a copy of the incident report by the Office of the Building Official (OBO) on the
specific events that led to collapse. “In an executive session, we want to know the measures we
can adapt to avoid this (from happening) again. This concerns an excavation that is already five
storeys deep. We want to know the standards of OBO and the national building code and
whether the contractors followed the law,” he said. The councilor said the city has to know if
the contractors of the condotel violated any policies so they can be sanctioned with
appropriate penalties especially since their construction is posing danger to the public and the
neighboring structures. The investigation will help the Cebu City Council draft regulations on
these types of constructions. Initial findings of the Office of the Building Official revealed that
the ground has weakened and softened because of the alleged failure of the condominium
project’s contractor to comply with adequate soil protection requirements.
Guardo, who is a member of the Mining Board, said they will hire a structural engineer to help
oversee the construction site and suggest ways to prevent accidents. “If the soil was made of
limestone, it would not have caused so much damage, but the soil in the construction site was
soft so the anchors probably were strong enough to hold them together,” said Guardo. The
anchor Councilor Guardo reffered to is the shoring, or the temporary wall with inclines built to
protect the adjacent building, in this case, the Juanita building, from collapsing. Guardo said the
contractors will have to explain to the City Council on how they designed the anchors/shoring
on the soil and why they were not able to foresee the danger. The councilor also urged the OBO
to conduct inspections in all construction sites which currently have deep excavation activities
in order to make sure that all contractors have followed mitigation procedures. OBO recently
said they ordered the contractors of the condotel to put up additional anchors in order to
strengthen the soil. OBO said construction activities will be suspended until the area is safe.
Architect Florante Catalan, the OBO chief, said the construction site will undergo a “pull-out
test” to determine the ground’s strength to hold a structure. Catalan said the condotel
developer promised to comply with the requirements as soon as possible.