Earthquake Sulawesi, Indonesia – 9-year old boy killed and dozens injured + lot of damaged buildings

Last update: August 18, 2012 at 5:05 pm by By Armand Vervaeck and James Daniell

Update : The population versus the epicenter radies is as follows (courtesy GDACS) :
Radius    Population
100 km    1.2 million people
75 km    1 million people
50 km    900000 people
20 km    41000 people
10 km    1600 people
5 km     <1000 people
2 km     <1000 people
Based on these data and based on our experiences, about 50,000 people are having damage and injuries risks. To the positive side we have to explain that the building style in the area is mostly of wood and bamboo which is very earthquake resistant.

Shaking map courtesy USGS

Theoretical calculations are reporting that 120000 people may have experienced a potential damaging strong shaking!
In 1985 a similar M6.6 earthquake made no fatalities at 85 km from the current epicenter. Although this is looking good, earthquakes are hard to compare and almost never have the same output.

We are currently writing at this article, please refresh every couple of minutes.

Most important Earthquake Data:
Magnitude : Mw 6.6
UTC Time : Saturday, August 18, 2012 at 09:41:54 UTC
Local time at epicenter : Saturday, August 18, 2012 at 05:41:54 PM at epicenter
Depth (Hypocenter) : 20.2 km
Geo-location(s) :
56 km (34 miles) SSE of Palu, Indonesia
72 km (44 miles) W of Poso, Indonesia

pdate 16:57 UTC : Landslides have blocked the important road to Kulawi.

Update 16:41 UTC : The earthquake scene includes the districts of Sigi and Gumbasa. Hundreds of people have chosen to spend the night in tents (or self made tents or tents from the disaster authorities) as they are afraid to stay overnight is sometimes already damaged houses. Putting a tent in their own garden is guarding at the same time their property.
At present we can report that at least 30 houses have been seriously damaged and 100 slightly damaged.

Important update 16:15 UTC : Unfortunately we have to report that a 9 year old boy was killed by falling debris during the M 6.2 earthquake in Sulawesi. Dozens have been injured. (source Indonesian media stating BPBD)

Update 15:25 UTC : At least 23 houses have been damaged in Paragi Mountong district, close to the epicenter. The villages where the damaged houses are located are Desa Namo, Bolapapu, and Tangkolowi.

Update 15:05 UTC : A BPBD spokesman said that 2 people have been injured by falling debris in the village of Parigi Mountong, a district close to the epicenter.

Update 14:45 UTC : The American seismological agency USGS has updated the earthquake data and decreased the Magnitude from 6.6 to 6.3. The hypocenter depth has been changed from 20.2 to 19.9, not a real difference.

Update 14:30 UTC : The earthquake happened during the last hours of the Ramadan. The end of the Ramadan is a great feast for all the families.

Update 13:43 UTC : We are trying to obtain more news from the earthquake area but so far without a lot of details. As the night has fallen and as a lot of people do not want to go inside, we will need to wait until a calmer period. Electricity has been restored shortly before 7 PM in many populated areas.

Update 12:59 UTC : People in Palu have mentioned that the shaking lasted about 15 seconds. Darkness has fallen in Indonesia now, so it may take a lot of hours before we will have reports from the epicenter area. The current reports are arriving from the bigger cities at tens of km from the epicenter. As said before, the radius we have called very dangerous for injuries and serious damage is approx. 20 km around the epicenter. The locations were damage was reported are outside this radius !

Update 12:46 UTC : Shaking was felt until Palu City, Donggala, Poso, and Morowali which is about 100 kilometers from the epicenter. Panic broke out in a shopping mall in Palu city. A first overview is reporting many damaged buildings in Tavanjuka and Sigi

Update 11:51 UTC :  17 minutes after the mainshock a first strong M4.9 aftershock has been recorded.

Update 11:49 UTC :  The earthquake occurred along the Palu Koro fault line who is moving at a speed of 3 cm per year! The Palu Koro fault stretches over a distance of 800 km. A BPBD (National Disaster Management Agency) spokesperson said that the fault is known as very dangerous. The epicenter following this agency was at only 40 km from the big city of Palu. First reports out of Palu are not mentioning serious damage to important buildings.

Update 11:40 UTC :  As could be expected with this kind of strong earthquake, the power was down.

Update 11:30 UTC :  BMKG reported that the epicenter of the earthquake was located at 27 km Southwest of Central Sulawesi Parigimoutong or 40 miles Southeast Sulawesi Tenggah Palu.

Update 11:18 UTC : In Palu, a city located 54 km from the epicenter, people ran in panic out of their houses. Palu has 282,000 inhabitants !

Lindu lake – image courtesy Mujiyanto

Update 11:09 UTC : Ranu Lindu or Lindu Lake is an Indonesian National Park. The hills surrounding the lake are quite low making landslides less evident, although they can also be generated in lower hills if the area has been saturated by rain. The area of the national park is 2,180 km² covering both lowland and montane forests. It provides habitat to numerous rare species, including 77 bird species endemic to Sulawesi. The national park is designated as part of the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves. In addition to its rich wildlife, the park also contains megaliths dating from before 1300 AD.
The easiest access to visit the national park is from Palu to Kamarora (50 kilometers in 2.5 hours drive). Due to a lot of rainfall up to 4,000 mm a year in the southern part of the national park, the best time to visit is from July to September. ER : luckily we are currently in the relatively dry season

Update 11:07 UTC : Indonesian sources report no casualties or damage but this of course far too soon to say something like that. The strongest shaking has been experienced in a very remote area and it may take many hours before that we get a decent report. Additionally darkness will fall in a few hours making eventual rescue and assessment tasks even more difficult.

Very Important Update 10:48 UTC : Totally different (and less dangerous) numbers at BMKG, the seismological agency from Indonesia. BMKG reports at Magnitude of 6.2  (a HUGE difference in energy) at a depth of 10 km. Nevertheless these better numbers, the earthquake remains dangerous. BMKG (which has the most seismological instruments installed in Sulawesi, puts the location of the epicenter to the north of the lake. Once more we see totally different data depending on the seismological reports. It will take a while before the conflicting data will be solved. BMKG also reported that nobody has to fear for a tsunami but we know from earlier experiences that everybode will have fled to higher grounds following the shaking.

Update 10:48 UTC : The nearest populated places are: Pangana (17km), Tomado (7km), Loeo (11km). The closest civilian airport is Mutiara (52km).

Update 10:43 UTC : People may have been very lucky to have experienced a M4.7 foreshock at the same area a little less than 2 hours before the main earthquake struck. Indonesian people have the habbit to auto-evacuate if a strong shaking happens and a lot of them may have been out of their houses.

Update : this earthquake is not a (less dangerous) subduction earthquake, but a transform earthquake. Transform earthquakes are far more dangerous because of the ground movement styles.

Update : There is a substantial wave risk on the very big Rano Lindu lake as the epicenter of the earthquake happened only a few km from the lakeshore

for more information and updates, go to:    http://earthquake-report.com/2012/08/18/extremely-dangerous-shallow-earthquake-below-sulawesi-indonesia/