Landslides in Indonesia (week 8)
On December 13th, 2014, a landslide in Central Java killed 93, left 23 missing and destroyed around 300 houses. Unfortunately this is not out of the ordinary for Indonesia as it experiences frequent heavy rainfall and flash floods, which can often lead to landslides; 60 people have been killed by flash floods and the resulting landslides in Indonesia this year alone.
Indonesia is prone to landslides due to its hilly/mountainous terrain and soil types combined with its extreme unpredictable weather, heavy rainfall and flash floods. It is sometimes due to human error as well as landslides are not always taken into account when planning a project. When a landslide occurs, remedial actions can include: soil restoration and slope stabilization, erosion control, and reinforcement of slope sides with things like sheet pile, bore pile, soil nailing, geo-grids, etc.
Right now, Indonesia has a number of early warning tools installed in landslide-prone areas, but like with many other natural disasters, their effectiveness is questionable. However Indonesia can do a number of things in attempt to anticipate or prevent landslides, largely involving weather information, such as:
- warning systems based on rainfall which can be obtained daily from the meteorological agency, which should be calibrated to give a warning when rainfall is more than 10 mm/second.
- a peizometer (device used to measure the pressure of groundwater) that gives warning when the groundwater is above a critical level, as determined by slope stability analysis
- geological maps, which are useful in identifying landslide complexes (example: Magelang and Semarang maps), although they are not optimally utilized in infrastructure development.
But in order to do this, I think there needs to be stricter regulations to ensure that these are implemented, maintained and used correctly with communication and coordination between government departments and agencies.
https://phys.org/news/2020-01-indonesian-capital-reels-dead.html
https://www.cnn.com/2014/12/12/world/asia/indonesia-landslide/index.html
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/292137699_Landslides_Anticipation_and_Prevention_in_Indonesia
https://reliefweb.int/report/indonesia/indonesian-macgyver-creates-landslide-warning-device
Indonesia is prone to landslides due to its hilly/mountainous terrain and soil types combined with its extreme unpredictable weather, heavy rainfall and flash floods. It is sometimes due to human error as well as landslides are not always taken into account when planning a project. When a landslide occurs, remedial actions can include: soil restoration and slope stabilization, erosion control, and reinforcement of slope sides with things like sheet pile, bore pile, soil nailing, geo-grids, etc.
Right now, Indonesia has a number of early warning tools installed in landslide-prone areas, but like with many other natural disasters, their effectiveness is questionable. However Indonesia can do a number of things in attempt to anticipate or prevent landslides, largely involving weather information, such as:
- warning systems based on rainfall which can be obtained daily from the meteorological agency, which should be calibrated to give a warning when rainfall is more than 10 mm/second.
- a peizometer (device used to measure the pressure of groundwater) that gives warning when the groundwater is above a critical level, as determined by slope stability analysis
- geological maps, which are useful in identifying landslide complexes (example: Magelang and Semarang maps), although they are not optimally utilized in infrastructure development.
But in order to do this, I think there needs to be stricter regulations to ensure that these are implemented, maintained and used correctly with communication and coordination between government departments and agencies.
https://phys.org/news/2020-01-indonesian-capital-reels-dead.html
https://www.cnn.com/2014/12/12/world/asia/indonesia-landslide/index.html
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/292137699_Landslides_Anticipation_and_Prevention_in_Indonesia
https://reliefweb.int/report/indonesia/indonesian-macgyver-creates-landslide-warning-device
Nice post! I have never really looked into Indonesia, but it is sad to hear that landslides and flash floods have killed so many people. I am glad that Indonesia has a warning system in place. Preparation is going to save lives. Thank you for your post!
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