Rain and Earthquake-Induced Landslides

in West Java, Indonesia, Case Study in Subang 106

Area Near the Baribis Fault, with Implications
for an Early Warning System

Zufialdi Zakaria, Febri Hirnawan, and Sri Widayati

Abstract
This paper presents the role of rainfall and earthquakes as the factors that induces landslides.
Case study is conducted at Cikamiri Village, Subang, Province of West Java, Indonesia. Study
area close to active faults (Baribis Fault) at the western part of the Subang region. These areas
include the landslides prone area. In the relationship between slope safety factors with
horizontal seismic coefficient, the results obtained that increasing horizontal seismic
coefficient, decreasing slope safety factor. Slopes in rainy season conditions are more prone
to landslides than in the dry season. In the rainy season, when coefficient of horizontal seismic
is 0.41 or slightly lower than 0.41, the slope indicates an unstable condition. Research in rainy
seasons with precipitation 321.62 mm, causing Safety Factor is in critical condition
(FS = 1.07). If rain is approaching 321.62 mm, the slope began to critical. On precipitation
364.72 mm causing groundwater levels increased by 72.50 %, followed by γ (unit weight), c
(cohesion), and φ (angle of friction) at 15.833, 6,571 kN/m2, and 19.92°, respectively, which
ultimately determines the security factor FS to be 1.02 (slope in unstable conditions). Results
of this study can be used for EWS (Early Warning System).

Keywords
Rainfall Earthquake Slope analysis Landslide prone EWS

Fault. Baribis fault trending NW-SE, located in the eastern

106.1 Introduction
part of West Java. This fault is an active fault, which char-
acterizes the phenomenon neotectonism in this region with
West Java region is a zone-VII in Indonesian Earthquake
earthquakes. Besides the earthquake-prone, this region is
Prone Maps (issued by Volcanology and Geological Disaster
also an area prone to soil movement (Zakaria et al. 2011).
Mitigation Center in 2006). According to the regional
This is compounded by the thick of residual soil in the hills
geology maps (sheets Java), in mainland West Java there are
and mountains of West Java.
many active faults that could potentially produce damaging
Case study is conducted at Cikamiri Village, Subang, and
earthquakes. Major faults cut the province. Some are well
Province of West Java, Indonesia. West Java as a part of
known, namely Cimandiri Fault, Lembang Fault and Baribis
Java island is located in the southwestern part of Indonesia.
Java Island is the area which frequently hit by earthquakes.
This is closely related to the subduction zone of the Indo-
Z. Zakaria (&) Australian plate in the southern of Java Island toward Eur-
Laboratory of Engineering Geology, University of Padjadjaran, asian plate in the north. Speed of the moving plates
Jl. Raya Bandung-Sumedang KM 21, Jatinangor, 45363,
approximately 70 mm/year, according to the USGS NEIC
Sumedang, Indonesia
e-mail: zufialdi_z@unpad.ac.id 1973–2007 (Natawidjaja 2007). Subduction boundary of the
Indo-Australian plate with the Eurasian plate is expressed by
F. Hirnawan
S. Widayati
Department of Mining Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, the presence of the Java Trench (Fig. 106.1).
Bandung Islamic University, Bandung, Indonesia

G. Lollino et al. (eds.), Engineering Geology for Society and Territory – Volume 2, 637
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-09057-3_106, © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015
638
Fig. 106.1 Tectonics of Indonesia (Hall 1995), inset West Java and Baribis Fault
Climate of West Java is wet, represented by annual
rainfall ranging from about 3,000–5,000 mm. The type of
climate being based on the result of analysis using Schmidt
and Ferguson procedure of annual rain fall data from 1951
till 1976 is wet or class B. The mean wet months and dry
months are 9.3 and 2.2 respectively, so the quotient Q is
0.236 which is in the interval of 0.143 < Q < 0.333 indi-
cating class B (Hirnawan 1993).
Some research suggests that a variety of factors causing
landslides, such as: seismic, climate (rainfall), vegetation,
morphology, rock / soil and the local situation, soil water
content or soil moisture, seepage, and geological activity such
as fractures (especially those still active), fractures, and line-
ament. Therefore, it needs attention in some areas with certain
conditions such as: through the fault zone, seismic lines, loose
rocky area, strong erosion areas, hilly areas claystone, and
hilly areas with thick residual soil (Zakaria 2010).
A small research about the effect of rain and earthquake
on factor of safety of slope stability was conducted in Su-
bang Area. The objective is to reveal the response of slope
stability to rain fall in rainy season and earthquake, which
Z. Zakaria et al.
enable the team of researchers to utilize the result of this
study for the approach of early warning system. Subang is a
town near the Baribis fault. According to Meteorology and
Geophysics Agency in this area, the pga (peak ground
acceleration) is 40 Gal (Hirnawan 1993). Recent earthquakes
in Subang happened on May 29, 2013, with a magnitude 3.4
SR. Epicenter is 5 km from southwestern Subang, or 37 km
from northeastern Bandung, depth of 10 km (shallow
earthquake). Meteorology, Climatology & Geophysics
Agency said the earthquake epicenter occurred at 6°60’
south Latitude and 107°71’ east Longitude.
106.2 Methods
The location of the study is along Cikamiri river bank of
Quaternary volcanic tuff unconformable overlying clays of
Subang Formation. Tuff has been decomposed generating
coarse grained residual soils of silty-sands and clayey-sands.
At this site both in dry and rainy seasons several boreholes
were drilled, and test pits were dug to take soil samples for
106 Rain and Earthquake-Induced Landslides 639

laboratory test to obtain basic physical and mechanical Relationship of water content (ω, %) versus rainfall (PPT-
properties, which are needed for slope stability analysis. precipitation, mm) is obtained as follows: ω = 17.241 PPT –
Drilling was conducted during the rainy season. Daily 885.187 (Correlation coefficient = 0.2957), this correlation is
rainfall is measured during drilling. Cumulative daily rainfall
weak, but the trend can be determined graphically that
is calculated from start to finish drilling jobs. At the time of
increasing of water content is affected by rainfall. Based on
drilling work, unit weight measurement is done in the field. this equation, approach to determine safety factor can be
The samples that have been used, is taken to the laboratory done. As the result of tests curves representing significant
used for testing moisture content. In slope stability analysis,
relationship of each variable with water content in rainy
the measurement of slope angle, slope height and slope seasons were obtained. Water content increases with
length, are required to calculate the safety factor of the slope.
increasing rainfall. Increase of water content in the soil mass
This work is done in the field. The measurement results will due to rain reduced the soil strength that eventually lowered
be used to draw the slopes in the studio with a scale of the slope stability through decrease of safety factor. Analysis
1:500. of the slope is done using the Simulation of Stable Slope.
Statistics analyses of regression and correlation test were
Smallest safety factor (FS) results obtained from the condi-
conducted to verify the relationship of the respective soil tions shown in Table 106.1.
variables of volume unit weight γ, cohesion c, and internal The result of analysis showed that precipitation
friction angle φ with soil water content, that determine the 364.72 mm at the research site caused soil water content to
slope stability. Statistical analysis was also tested to determine
increase up to 72.50 %, followed by γ, c, and φ values of
the relationship between rainfall and water content that will 15.833, 6.571 kN/m2, and 19.92° respectively, which
determine the other variables, so the safety factor of the slope
eventually determined the slope safety factor FS to be 1.02
will be known at any moisture content and specific rainfall. (slope at unstable condition). Condition of critical safety
factor (FS = 1.07) occurs in rainfall greater than 321.62 mm.
To figure out the effect of rainy season and earthquake on
106.3 Results and Discussion slope stability, simulation of the Cikamiri river bank both in
dry and rainy seasons represented by ten profiles each at
Based on result of soil mechanics test some graphical rela- earthquake loading condition beginning from α-
horizontal 0.00
tionship between water content (ω, %) versus cohesion (c, up to larger than 0.15 for every about 0.01 interval was
kg/cm2), water content (ω, %) versus unit weight (γ, g/cm3), conducted (Fig. 106.2). The result of this effort, illustrated in
and water content (ω, %) versus angle of friction (φ, degree) the attached figure, shows two groups of curves representing
are derived. Some formulas resulting from the relationship, slope stability condition in each season. In every group the
as: curves clearly reveal that the slope safety factor decreases
with increasing earthquake coefficient. Curves in the group
c ¼ 0:005 x þ 1:977 ðCorrelation coefficient ¼ 0:989Þ
above are for slope profiles in dry season, which are stable at
u ¼ 0:368 x þ 46:60 ðCorrelation coefficient ¼ 0:654Þ α-
horizontal of larger than 0.041. On the contrary, in group of
c ¼ 0:006 x þ 0:502 ðCorrelation coefficient ¼ 0:791Þ curves below in the rainy season the slope profiles are at

Table 106.1 The relationships of water content with other variables

ω (%) c (kN/m2) φ (degree) γ (kN)/m3 PPT (mm) FS, safety factor Explanation
61.00 13.338 24.15 16.397 166.481 1.32 Stable
63.50 11.866 23.23 16.275 209.580 1.25 Critical
64.50 11.278 22.86 16.226 226.814
66.50 10.101 22.13 16.128 261.290
68.50 8.924 21.39 16.030 295.766 1.12 Critical
69.00 8.630 21.21 16.005 304.385
69.50 8.336 21.02 15.981 313.004
70.00 8.042 20.84 15.956 321.623 1.07 Critical
70.50 7.748 20.66 15.931 330.242
71.50 7.159 20.29 15.882 347.480
72.50 6.571 19.92 15.833 364.718 1.02 Unstable
640 Z. Zakaria et al.

2.000 G-04-K required some sensor as tools, i.e.: (1) Landslides Sensor.
G-07-K
1.800 This sensor detects a moving landslide in an area, and sends
G-08-K
a signal to the nearest Disaster Mitigation Office; (2) Pre-
FS, Factor of Safety

1.600 G-09-K
G-10-K
1.400 cipitations Sensor. This sensor detects an increase of pre-
Critical of Safety Factor FS= 1 G-11-K
1.200 G-B5-K cipitation in critical condition. Warning signals can be sent
G-B6-K
1.000
to the nearest Disaster Mitigation Office; (3) Water content
G-B7-K

0.800
0.600
0.400 dry seasons
rainy seasons
0.200
0.000
0.000 0.050 0.100 0.150
α-horizontal
G-04-K = Cross section of G-slope No. 4, dry seasons
G-B3-H = Cross section of G-slope No. B3, rainy seasons
Fig. 106.2 Decreasing of safety factor during rainy and dry,
calculation involves α-horizontal = 0.000 to 0.170 (Hirnawan 1993)
critical and unstable stages at α-horizontal of lower than
0.041. This can be concluded that in rainy season the slopes
at zero α-horizontal or slightly upper than 0.041 are unstable.
Earthquake factor is involved in determining α-horizontal
value of the largest earthquakes ever happen. Increasing
α-horizontal value of earthquakes (in the area of Subang) may
decrease the safety factor from 6 % up to 20 % (Hirnawan
1993). This causes a decrease in the value of safety factor
due to the earthquake should be considered.
Increased rainfall (precipitation, PPT) will lead to an
increase of infiltration (I) and water content (ω), but will lead
to a decrease of cohesion (c), internal friction angle (ϕ), &
unit weight (γ). Decreased cohesion, internal friction angle,
and unit weight will lead to an decrease safety factor of slope
(FS). Then through the prediction of rainfall, slope stability
can be monitored.
Prediction of rainfall is part of an Early Warning System.
At the time of rainfall tends to increase, the landslide prone
areas can be immediately known. Further research are
G-B8-K Sensor. This sensor detects an increase of water content in
G-01-H
the soil, so the decrease in Safety Factor can be predicted.
G-01'H
G-05-H
G-06-H
G-12-H
G-13-H 106.4 Conclusion
G-13'H
G-17-H
0.200
G-B1-H Based on a result of the study mentioned above, an Early
G-B3-H
Warning System (EWS) for the preparedness of anticipating
G-B4-H
landslides at the study area and its surroundings can be done
by predicting rainfall. If rainfall is approaching 321.62 mm,
the slope began to critical with safety factor = 1.07. Slopes
of river bank at study area is unstable (landslide is about to
occur) at total rainfall of 365 mm or larger due to continuous
rain.
References
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In: Proceedings Indonesian petroleum association vol 1, 1995, IPA,
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Padjadjaran, 1993, p 100 (in Indonesian)
Natawidjaja DH (2007) Tectonic setting of Indonesia, modeling of
earthquake & tsunami sources, modeling of training tsunami run-up.
In: Research and Technology, August 2007, p 17 (in Indonesian)
Zakaria Z (2010) A proposal for the landslide hazard mitigation with
regional genetics approach (Case study: Citatah Landslides,
Padalarang, Java). Indonesian J Geol 5:93–112, 2 June 2010 (in
Indonesian)
Zakaria Z, Ismawan, Haryanto I (2011) Identification and mitigation on
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41, April 2011 (in Indonesian)