PVBMG: Collapsed Retaining Wall is not a Geological Disaster

TEMPO.CO, Bandung - The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry’s Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center (PVMBG) does not consider the Soekarno-Hatta airport landslide as a geological disaster.

Head of PVMBG ground movement mitigation Agus Budianto said that the collapse of the tunnel’s retaining wall within the airport area was not caused by geological activities.

“It tends to be man-made. We did not send a team there, we only checked if there are any connections with the ground movement caused by any geological activities,” he said on Wednesday, February 7.

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Agus explained that the tunnel retaining walls experienced massive pressure from the water that accumulated and saturated the ground which the wall was retaining. It was also made worse by the vibration caused by the airport train railway passing over the tunnel.

The risk of experiencing a landslide could have been avoided by constructing a non-vertical retaining wall either a slanted or terraced wall. “The pressure the retaining wall received might not be that massive if it were slanted,” he said.

Previously reported, Police's Forensic Laboratory Center (Puslabfor) investigated the area in the Soekarno-Hatta airport although the final results have not been announced yet. The operation of the airport train has also been temporarily stopped.

AHMAD FIKRI