SOIL LIQUEFACTION INDUCED BY EARTHQUAKE

By: Denaya Artamevia N. S. (15/385313/TK/43975)

Indonesia as a country that being located on the middle of Pacific Ring of Fire, Alpide seismic
belt, and also located on some tectonic plates, is became one of the most seismically active zones
of the earth. Pacific Ring of Fire or Circum-Pacific belt known as the reason why Indonesia
experience some of the strongest earthquake and also has a lot of volcanoes. Based on Live Science
(2010) this region claimed as the world's greatest earthquake belt, according to the U.S. Geological
Survey (USGS), due to its series of fault lines stretching 25,000 miles (40,000 kilometers) from
Chile in the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia.
Breaking in the plates of the Earth's crust, earthquakes typically occur along faults. These faults
accumulate strain over the years as two plates butt heads. Roughly 90 percent of all the world's
earthquakes, and 80 percent of the world's largest earthquakes, strike along the Ring of Fire. Other
than that, according to National Geographic, Ring of Fire also became home to 75% of the world’s
volcanoes and 90% of its earthquake. Indonesia reported has 129 active volcanoes. Some of them
had been erupted and gave some impacts to the human and earth.
Indonesian National Board for Disaster Management in 2017 (Badan Nasional Penanggulanan
Bencana-BNPB) predicted in 2018 Indonesia will experience around 500 earthquakes every
month. At that time, the head of center of data, information and public relations at the BNPB,
Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, also said that Java, Sulawesi, Papua, and Nusa Tenggara will be the most
vulnerable area. While the most vulnerable city is Surabaya, Yogyakarta, and Bandung.

Figure 1. Liquefaction in Selengen Village, North Lombok.

Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara is still become the focus of attention nowadays, because of the
recent earthquake that happens since August. Building damage and fatalities are inevitable.
According to the Indonesian Ministry of Social Affairs (2018), the total of the victim on August
20th 2018 is around 548 person. One of the reasons for the building collapse is liquefaction. Based
on Sutopo Purwo Nugroho’s tweet on August 10th 2018, because of the 7,0 on the Richter scale

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earthquake that happens in Lombok last August, you could find the liquefaction in Selengen
Village, Kayangan, North Lombok (Figure 1).
Liquefaction causes a lot of building collapse because it makes the strength of a soil is reduced
and also makes the foundation broken. Liquefaction has been responsible for a tremendous amount
of damage in the historical earthquake around the world. So it is important for us to know about
liquefaction, the causes of occurrence, its impact, and also what should we do about it.
Soil liquefaction is a phenomenon of saturated or half saturated soil behavior that loses its strength
and stiffness substantially because of earthquake shaking or another rapid loading, which causes
the soil behaves like a liquid. The space between individual particles of soils completely filled
with water. This water exerts a pressure on the soil particles that influence how tightly the particles
themselves are pressed together. Prior to an earthquake, the water pressure is relatively low.
However, earthquake shaking can cause the water pressure to increase to the point where the soil
particles can readily move with respect to each other. But not all soils will liquefy in the
earthquake. Sands, silts, and quite loose soil is the type of soils that have a big potency to liquefy.
The location of the water table is also considered.
If liquefied, the soil cannot support the weight of things that are lying above it, such as building,
bridge, or road. It is because of the strength of the soil decreased and so does the ability of a soil
deposit to support foundations for buildings and bridges. Usually, the rivers of silt or boils flowing
out onto the surface is a liquefied soil. Liquefied soil also exerts a higher pressure on retaining
walls, which can cause them to tilt or slide. This movement can cause settlement of the retained
soil and destruction of structures on the ground surface. One of the most famous cases of
liquefaction occurred during the Niigata earthquake in 1964 as shown in Figure 2. It shows
structurally undamaged buildings tilted and floated within their liquefied sandy base soil.

Figure 2. Tilted building due to liquefaction in Niigata earthquake 1964.

Although dangerous, soil liquefaction has one positive aspect, it is the tendency for the effects of
earthquake shaking to be significantly reduced. It’s because liquids do not support a shear stress.

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So when the soil liquefied due to earthquake shaking, the wave of the subsequent earthquake is
not transferred to buildings at the ground surface.
The countermeasure of this event is to know the area that is prone to experience liquefaction, such
as the type of soil, soil properties, water table, and etc. so we can considering more if we want to
build something on the area. Soil improvement, geo-grid usage, and flexible joint usage, can help
prevent the liquefaction to happen.

Reference:
Civil at Work, 2017. Soil Liquefaction. [Online]
Available at: http://civilatwork.blogspot.com/2017/12/soil-liquefaction.html
[Accessed 27 September 2018].
Israel, B., 2010. Indonesia's Explosive Geology Explained. [Online]
Available at: https://www.livescience.com/8823-indonesia-explosive-geology-explained.html
[Accessed 27 September 2018].
National Geographic, n.d. The Ring of Fire. [Online]
Available at: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/earth/ring-of-fire/
[Accessed 27 September 2018].
Sofia, A., 2016. Geotechnic - Liquefaction. [Online]
Available at: http://sofiaannisam.blogspot.com/2016/10/geologi-teknik-likuifaksi.html
[Accessed 27 September 2018].