What Went Wrong in Indonesia?
The Inquiry
BBC
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 18 October 2018
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Thousands died when an earthquake and tsunami struck Palu, Indonesia – but could more lives have been saved? Accusations have been made of a host of failings: alert systems that were out of action, sirens that didn’t sound, a government slow to give emergency help - even people who were too busy filming the disaster to run away. How much truth is there to this? Was everything done to warn people beforehand, and rescue people in the aftermath? We speak to experts on the ground and around the world to find out. Contributors include: Lian Gogali – Founder, Institute Mosintuwu Harald Spahn – Consultant geologist 2006-2013, German-Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System project Harkunti Pertiwi Rahayu – Chair, Indonesian Association of Disaster Experts & Assistant Professor, Bandung Institute of Technology Mark Astarita – Former Director of Fundraising, British Red Cross Presenter: Kavita Puri Producer: Beth Sagar-Fenton
(A man looks for his belongings amid the debris of his destroyed house in Palu, Central Sulawesi, Sept 29 2018. Photo credit: Bay Ismoyo/Getty Images)
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | You're listening to the inquiry on the BBC World Service with me kavita Puri. |
| 0:06.0 | Each week one question, four expert witnesses and an answer. Didiac left his home as he did every day, but when he returned it was gone, |
| 0:17.0 | and he returned it was gone washed away. |
| 0:25.0 | A six meter wave had engulfed his house. |
| 0:30.0 | It's the stuff of nightmares. His wife and two daughters waded through chest deep water. |
| 0:39.0 | Miraculously, they made it to a neighbor's three-story home to safety. |
| 0:44.0 | Didiac received no warning, neither did his family. |
| 0:49.0 | His city is now unrecognizable, destroyed, the people exhausted, everyone is searching for lost relatives. On Friday, September the 28th, a 7.5 magnitude earthquake hit the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia. |
| 1:10.0 | Experts believe it triggered a submarine landslide forcing huge amounts of water into a long narrow bay, |
| 1:19.0 | channeling it directly to the city of Palu. |
| 1:27.0 | Three tsunami waves struck. Over 2,000 people have been declared dead |
| 1:31.0 | and the number is rising. |
| 1:33.0 | Why did so many perish? |
| 1:36.0 | In a country where earthquake strike regularly |
| 1:39.0 | and a tsunami early warning system is in place, |
| 1:42.0 | why is the devastation still so huge? So this |
| 1:46.0 | week we're asking what went wrong in Indonesia. Part 1 Beyond Panic So when earthquake happened, it's really big hit and the office is fake a lot. |
| 2:13.0 | It means that the center of the earthquake must be really big. |
| 2:20.0 | This is Leanne Gogali. |
| 2:22.0 | She runs a charity called Institute Mossintuwu. |
| 2:26.0 | We like are worrying, where is the center of the air cook, and then we found out it because all of us has a family there so we |
| 2:35.8 | starting to call to our family. She was in her office at work a few hours from the epicenter in Palu. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.