TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - On this day last year, Lingu (earthquake), Bomba Talu (tsunami), and liquefaction rocked Central Sulawesi, killing 4,845 people and displacing tens of thousands. Nine Palu journalists, members of the "Disaster Management Accountability" fellowship--a program held by Tempo Institute, International Media Support (Denmark), and AJI Palu, decided to tell the survivors' stories. They investigated projects suspected to be manifested with problems, as well as cover Palu's dream of having a tsunami wall. Here are their three coverages.
[...]
There is indeed a good chance that a tsunami barrier could fail in Palu Bay. The thing is, it would cut across the surface of the Palu Koro Fault. As a result, even before the arrival of a tsunami, the barrier could be destroyed by an earthquake, due to the down-lift or uplift of the land surface around the fault line.
[...]
Construction of that tsunami dyke appeared to be the way to go. However, on Thursday, August 8, 2019, in a meeting of a panel of experts initiated by the Ministry of National Development Planning (Bappenas) in Palu, there was further discussion about what construction approach to use in developing the coastal area around Palu Bay. At this third meeting of a panel of experts, JICA, through JICS expert in disaster prevention Naoto Tada, was no longer talking about a tsunami dyke, but proposed a new approach, an elevated road.
[...]
Along with the elevated road to be built, there will also be the construction of mangrove-based coastal protection. This will be done to withstand storm waves and coastal erosion. This coastal protection is to stretch 2.35 kilometers along the western coast of Palu Bay and 4.9 km along its eastern coast. Construction will cover the coastal area of the Silae Sub-District, Ulujadi District, to the coast of the Tondo Sub-District, Mantikulore District.