The Central Sulawesi provincial administration plans to build memorial parks in areas affected by earthquake-triggered soil liquefaction in Palu and Sigi regency to remember the victims. The geological phenomenon hit Palu and Sigi following a 7.4-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami that devastated Central Sulawesi in September 2018. Soil liquefaction is a natural process that occurs when the ground loses its firmness as heavy soil and rock sink, while light soil and sand rise to the surface, often as a result of powerful tremors, particularly in coastal areas. Witnesses said the “mud” rolled like ocean waves, moving houses in Petobo subdistrict in South Palu as much as 700 meters from their original locations. A 2012 study by the National Geology Agency found that several areas in Palu were very prone to soil liquefaction. Survivors who owned houses in the affected areas are not allowed to return and build new houses in the area. “Those are red zones. People are banned from building houses there,” Central Sulawesi administration secretary Mohammad Hidayat Lamakarate told The Jakarta Post on Monday. Based on the new master plan drawn up after the disaster, areas affected by soil liquefaction, including Petobo and Balaroa in Palu and Jono Oge in Sigi, will be reforested and turned into green public spaces in which the memorial parks will be built. The administration had also set up new sites to build new houses for former residents of the affected areas, Hidayat said. In Palu, the administration will develop new residential areas in different subdistricts… [Read full story]
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