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Over 1,200 Dead After Quake, Tsunami Hit Indonesia's Sulawesi

posted by takyon on Tuesday October 02 2018, @12:00PM   

"upstart" writes:

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

Hundreds dead as quake, tsunami hit Indonesia's Sulawesi

Nearly 400 people have been killed after a powerful earthquake triggered a tsunami that hit Indonesia's central Sulawesi island.

The national disaster agency put the current death toll at 384, all of them reported in the tsunami-struck city of Palu, but warned the number was likely to rise as rescue efforts continued on Saturday.

In Palu - home to around 350,000 people - partially covered bodies lay on the ground near the shore, the day after tsunami waves triggered by a 7.5 magnitude earthquake came ashore.

[...] Indonesia's meteorological and geophysics agency BMKG issued a tsunami warning after the earthquake, but lifted it 34 minutes later. The agency was widely criticised for not informing a tsunami had hit Palu on Saturday, though officials said waves had come within the time the warning was issued. The Palu area was hit by a less powerful quake earlier on Friday, which destroyed some houses, killed one person and injured at least 10 in Donggala, authorities said.

Sulawesi.

See also: 34 children attending Bible camp found dead as death toll cross 1,200 in Indonesia quake
Sulawesi tsunami devastates coast in Indonesia – in pictures

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Original Submission

• Not enough early tsunami detectors Not enough early tsunami detectors (Score: 4, Informative) by c0lo on Tuesday October 02 2018, @02:00PM (1 child)

  by c0lo (156) on Tuesday October 02 2018, @02:00PM (#742778) Journal

  BBC [bbc.com]

  Yes. Indonesia's tsunami early warning system is currently made up of a network of 170 seismic broadband stations, 238 accelerometer stations and 137 tidal gauges.

  But according to BMKG's head of earthquake and tsunami centre, the current system in place is "very limited".

  "Our [current] tools are very lacking," said Rahmat Triyono, speaking to BBC Indonesian.

  "In fact, of the 170 earthquake sensors we have, we only have a maintenance budget for 70 sensors."

  Australian Broadcasting Corporation [abc.net.au]

  Indonesia's disaster agency says early detection tsunami buoys off the coast of Sulawesi have not been working for six years, resulting in insufficient warning before rising waters reached the shore.
  ...
  A network of 22 buoys connected to seafloor sensors was meant to transmit advance tsunami warnings to the Indonesian meteorology and geophysics agency (BMKG).

  But Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), said the detection buoys had not worked since 2012 due to a lack of funding.
  ...
  It's not the first time that early detection buoys were found to be not working.

  In 2016, a sizeable earthquake off the island of Sumatra caused panic in the coastal city of Padang and revealed that none of the buoys — each costing hundreds of thousands of dollars — were working.

  It was found that they had been disabled by vandalism, theft or just stopped working due to a lack of funds for maintenance.

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  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford

  Starting Score:	1		point
  Moderation		+2
  Informative=2, Total=2
  Extra 'Informative' Modifier		0
  Karma-Bonus Modifier		+1
  Total Score:		4

• Re:Not enough early tsunami detectors (Score: 2) by Reziac on Wednesday October 03 2018, @02:29AM

  by Reziac (2489) on Wednesday October 03 2018, @02:29AM (#743207) Homepage

  That last line assumes that funds for maintenance didn't merely walk with Jesus.

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  And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.

  Parent