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November 5, 2024 | 02:28 pm
TEMPO.CO, Bandung - A researcher at the Geological Disaster Research Center of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Wa Ode Sumartini, attributes the recent viral incident of land subsidence in Saloadak Village, Central Mamuju District, West Sulawesi, to a combination of factors, including heavy equipment activity and natural soil conditions.
“The video clearly shows bubbles in the water. This means increased pore water pressure. This is evidence of liquefaction,” she told Tempo on Monday, November 4, 2024.
The incident, captured on video and widely shared on social media, occurred on a plantation road in Saloadak Village around 3:30 p.m. local time on November 2. An excavator digging the loose, brown soil suddenly sank, and the surrounding land began to slide and collapse.
Sumartini explained that this phenomenon, known as lateral spreading, can be triggered by static liquefaction, particularly in areas with granular or sandy soil. The plantation road's basin-like topography and the region's tertiary sediment or volcanic soil geology further contribute to the susceptibility of the land to liquefaction.
Imam Achmad Sadisun, a Geology Engineering Lecturer at Bandung Institute of Technology, offered a different perspective. He suggested that the incident may be a landslide, rather than earthquake-induced liquefaction as seen in Palu in 2018. “I believe it could be a mudslide,” he told Tempo.
Data and Information Officer at the Central Mamuju Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD), Rezky, identified three potential triggers for liquefaction in the region: peat soil conditions, heavy equipment operation, and waterlogging during the rainy season.
“It had been raining before the incident,” he noted.
Following examination, the Central Mamuju BPBD team confirmed that the sunken land in Saloadak Village is peat soil. The area is also prone to flooding during the rainy season. As a result of this incident, local residents' access to the plantation is still cut off.
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