On September 28th, a tsunami triggered by an earthquake hit Central Sulawesi, Indonesia hard.

 The quake struck Central Sulawesi in Indonesia with a magnitude of 7,5 on the Richter scale, which is really strong. The powerful force of the shake provoked a tsunami: the waves reached a height of about 4 to 7 meters. The destructive tsunami hit the settlements of Palu, Donggala and Mamuju along its path.

Not only did the earthquake generated a tsunami, but it also caused landslides and major soil liquefaction in regions in and around Palu. The liquefaction of the soil led to two mudflows in two locations that submerged many buildings, killing hundreds of people. In total, 430 hectares of land succumbed to soil liquefaction in Central Sulawesi.

To prevent disease from spreading, helicopters dropped disinfectant in neighbourhoods around the city of Palu. Spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said “Bombing and spraying of disinfectants is an effort to anticipate the spread of diseases through vectors such as flies, cockroaches, or mice.”

The quake and the landslides damaged several roadways, blocking the aid workers’ access to the victims. Maybe more people could have been saved if the roadways weren’t blocked.

All these catastrophes combined caused over 2000 deaths and 4400 people to be seriously injured, according to the Indonesia disaster management agency. Also, around 68 000 houses were destroyed or broken, making a few hundred thousands of people homeless. In total, at least 1.5 million people were touched by the natural disasters.

Affected Indonesians will need a lot of time and help to rebuild their lives, homes, and communities. Indonesia will probably need years to recover, especially since a series of earthquakes struck the country only two months before.

“Judging the conditions now, the reconstruction period will be from 2019 to 2020,” said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, national disaster agency’s spokesman. “We expect full recovery by 2021.”

All of this makes it the deadliest earthquake to strike the country since 2006 and the deadliest worldwide in 2018.

Sources: https://www.worldvision.org/disaster-relief-news-stories/2018-indonesia-earthquake-facts  https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/30/world/iyw-aid-indonesia-earthquake-and-tsunami-victims/index.html?no-st=1544025893              https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Sulawesi_earthquake_and_tsunami                   https://globalnews.ca/news/4566967/disinfectant-indonesia-disease/

Written by: Jessica Turmel

Edited by: Laurie Pronovost, Julia Labbé, Évelyne Tremblay, Alice Gagnon & Madeline Ratté