Rescue teams are continuing to assess the scale of the destruction after a 7.5-magnitude earthquake and the resulting tsunami struck the large Indonesian island of Sulawesi on Friday, leaving more than 1,200 dead, thousand of buildings destroyed and over 61,000 people displaced.
5 MILES
Epicenter
of quake
Lende
MAKASSAR
STRAIT
Strongest
shaking
Tsunami
entered bay
Donggala
The largest wave on Friday crested over electricity poles in Donggala.
PALU
BAY
Hundreds were killed in Palu, where buildings collapsed and waves reached as high as 18 feet.
Palu
SULAWESI
In two neighborhoods in Palu — Balaroa and Petobo — more than 2,500 buildings were destroyed when the soil beneath them was liquefied by the earthquake.
Source: U.S. Geological Survey
Views of the Damage
Palu, a city of about 380,000, saw extensive damage from the earthquake and tsunami. This is a bridge that spanned the mouth of the Palu River before the disaster:
Google Earth
Here’s the same bridge after the tsunami:
Carl Court/Getty Images
The damage caused by the disaster was broader, though, than what can be seen in a photograph. Images from the satellite company Planet, taken three days after the earthquake, show the wider effects of the disaster.
The images show sediment spilling out of Palu River and into the bay. You can also see the collapsed yellow bridge from the photos above lying over the mouth of the river in the “after” image below.
Tap to see after image.
Before
PALU BAY
Bridge
Palu
Tap to see before image.
After
PALU BAY
Bridge
Palu
“Before” image is from Sept. 28. “After” image is from Oct. 1. Satellite imagery from Planet.
On the eastern side of the bay, you can see where the waves scoured the beachfront, reducing buildings to rubble in many places.
Tap to see after image.
Before
PALU BAY
Tap to see before image.
After
PALU BAY
Tsunami
damage
“Before” image is from Sept. 28. “After” image is from Oct. 1. Satellite imagery from Planet.
The images also show neighborhoods south of Palu’s airport devastated by the effect of liquefaction, which causes soil to lose its ability to support structures.
Tap to see after image.
Before
Palu
Airport
Tap to see before image.
After
Palu
Airport
Liquefaction
“Before” image is from Sept. 28. “After” image is from Oct. 1. Satellite imagery from Planet.
Potential Wave Heights
Waves from the tsunami reached as high as 20 feet. A computer model by Andreas Schäfer, a geophysicist from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, showed the waves growing larger as they entered the bay. That model, however, may not show precise wave heights because it was developed using a different, though, similar fault.
Epicenter
Width of blue line along coast shows
maximum wave height in feet
15
10
5
Tsunami