28 September 2018, Mw7.5, Palu, Indonesia Tsunami

2019-10-30T21:40:21+00:00

UPDATE - 5 December 2018

For more information, visit the 28 September 2018 event, and ITST-Palu survey pages.

The 28 September 2018 magnitude 7.5 Palu, Indonesia earthquake (0.178°S, 119.840°E, depth 13 km) occurred at 1002 UTC. The major earthquake triggered catastrophic liquefaction, landslides, and a near-field tsunami that resulted in direct damage, impact, economic loss, and loss of life.

As of 26 October 2018 according to the One ASEAN One Response (AHA) Centre (Sit Update 15), the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that had hit Palu and Donggala in Central Sulawesi Indonesia, Friday 28 September 2018, has killed 2081 people. 1309 people are missing or buried (in liquefaction area), 4,438 with major injuries, 206,494 displaced, and 68,451 houses damaged. The three most affected areas were Donggala, Palu City, Sigi, and Parigi Moutong.

Click to view photos superimposed on aerial imagery taken after the event.Click to view before and after high-resolution satellite imagery of the impacted area (Digital Globe and Map Action).

The BMKG reported 591 aftershocks, with 28 strong enough to be felt, h through 24 October 2018 (0900 local) A recently retrieved marigram from the Pantoloan - Sulteng tide gauge shows a 3.8 m trough-to-peak tsunami that arrived six (6) minutes after the earthquake’s origin. Several analyses based on pictures, post disaster information, and video clips suggest the first tsunami wave hit the Palu beach area within 5 minutes after the earthquake. Preliminary field surveys conducted by the BMKG and led by Tohoku Univ/Indonesia Ministry of Environment and Forestry/Chuo Univ report an eyewitness height of up to 11.3 m in Palu and 1.57-10 m on the west and east sides of the bay.

Between October 18 and November 30, 2018, 6 International Tsunami Survey Teams (ITST) comprised of 70 international and Indonesia scientists collaborated to conduct surveys as part of the UNESCO-facilitated ITST-Palu. They collected inundation, runup, and flow depth data, earthuqake and tsunami impacts to engineered structures, drone imagery and bathymetric surveys, and eyewitness accounts of the tsunami wave arrival and impacts. The data will answer questions on how and why the deadly earthquake and tsunami occurred, what its impact was, and how we can better reduce future losses for similar events.

Preliminary research results will be presented at the 2018 Fall American Geophysical Meeting (AGU) late-breaking session The 2018 Mw 7.5 Sulawesi Indonesia earthquake: tsunamigenic potential of strike slip faults on 11 December 2018 in Washington, D.C. Click to download session oral and poster presentations.

Top: Co-seismic coastal subsidence, Donggala city Bottom: Liquefaction effects, Palu city.
(photos: ITIC, US Embassy Jakarta)

Devastating Tsunamis in the Pacific

2011-05-24T21:19:59+00:00

The Pacific Ocean and its adjacent marginal seas are the largest, most diverse, and most tsunami-prone of any of the earth’s oceans. Pacific Ocean nations face and must be prepared for distant, and local tsunami threats. In the past, Member States depended primarily on the international advice services of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC), Northwest Pacific Tsunami Advisory Centre (NWPTAC), and US National Tsunami Warning Center (US NTWC) to inform their National Tsunami Warning Centre decisions. But lessons learned recently on how to best prepare for local and regional tsunamis acknowledges that every country needs tp address the threat themselves through improved and expanded National Tsunami Warning Centre and Disaster Management Office capacities targeting coastal communities, and through formal regional collaboration. On 11 March 2011, the Pacific experienced and responded to its third destructive local tsunami in three years. Following the 29 September 2009 Samoa Tsunami that killed 192 in Samoa, American Samoa, and Tonga, and the 27 February 2010 Chile Tsunami that killed 124 in Chile, Japan is now facing a tremendous effort to analyze its national response and preparedness in order to better mitigate its tsunamis losses in the future. On 6 February 2013, a local tsunami in the Solomon Islands killed 9. On 1 April 2014, a local tsunami in northern Chile killed 7.

Chile Tsunami Event 1 April 2014


PTWC RIFT detailed coastal forecast amplitudes, Chile	Pacific Sea Level Stations with Tsunami Travel Times (TideTool)

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Solomons Tsunami Event 6 February 2013


PTWC RIFT model simulation showing the predicted maximum off-shore tsunami wave amplitudes from the 1112 UTC 6 February 2013 shallow thrust earthquake.	Tsunami damage to homes at Venga village in Santa Cruz Islands, Solomon Islands. Photo courtesy of Solomon Islands National Disaster Management Office.

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Japan Tsunami Event 11 March 2011


Observed water heights and calculated tsunami travel times, 11 March 2011	Minami Sanriku, Japan

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Chile Tsunami Event 27 February 2010


Observed water heights and calculated tsunami travel times, 11 March 2011	Dichato, Chile

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South Pacific Tsunami Event 29 September 2009


Observed water heights and calculated tsunami travel times, 29 Sept 2009	Pago Pago harbor, American Samoa

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Tsunami Events - International Tsunami Information Center

28 September 2018, Mw7.5, Palu, Indonesia Tsunami

Devastating Tsunamis in the Pacific