{
  "id": "disaster/tsunami-earthquake-is-the-warning",
  "signature": "AI tells someone near Indonesia's coast to wait for an official tsunami siren, SMS, or app alert before evacuating after a strong earthquake",
  "signature_zh": "",
  "regex": "(indonesia.*tsunami.*(warning|siren|alert)|wait.*official.*tsunami.*indonesia|inatews)",
  "domain": "disaster",
  "category": "hazard_misjudgment",
  "subcategory": null,
  "root_cause": "Indonesia's official tsunami warning system, InaTEWS (run by BMKG), issues a siren and SMS/app dissemination within about five minutes of a detected quake, but for earthquakes near the coast - as in the 2018 Palu-Donggala disaster - tsunami waves can arrive in well under that window, sometimes under five minutes, and power or network outages after a strong quake can silence sirens and overload cellular networks entirely. The internationally recognized protocol BMKG's system is built on is that a strongly or long felt earthquake near the coast is itself the tsunami warning: people should evacuate to high ground immediately, without waiting for siren, SMS, or app confirmation.",
  "root_cause_type": "generic",
  "root_cause_zh": "",
  "versions": [
    {
      "version": "any",
      "introduced": null,
      "deprecated": null,
      "removed": null,
      "behavior_change": null,
      "status": "active"
    }
  ],
  "os_specific": {},
  "dead_ends": [
    {
      "action": "Assume there will be enough time to wait for a siren, SMS, or app alert before evacuating after feeling a strong earthquake near the Indonesian coast",
      "why_fails": "In the September 2018 Palu-Donggala disaster, power outages after the earthquake disabled the city's tsunami siren and overloaded telecom networks, so no official evacuation advice reached residents; people who waited for the siren before moving 'lost their golden time to save themselves.' Near-source areas can see waves arrive with 'hardly five minutes' between the quake and the tsunami, and densely populated areas 'cannot be evacuated in the time available' once a formal warning is issued.",
      "fail_rate": 0.6,
      "condition": "Near-field earthquake close to the coast (as in Sulawesi, the Sunda Strait, or western Sumatra)",
      "sources": [
        "https://phys.org/news/2018-09-indonesian-tsunami.html",
        "https://www.eskp.de/en/natural-hazards/tsunami-advice-indonesia-935937/"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "workarounds": [
    {
      "action": "If you feel strong or long-lasting shaking near the Indonesian coast, move immediately to high ground or inland - do not wait for a siren, SMS, or official confirmation",
      "success_rate": 0.85,
      "how": "For tourists specifically, this means watching what locals do and moving with them rather than waiting for a phone alert, since cellular networks are frequently overloaded right after a strong quake.",
      "condition": "Coastal area during or immediately after a strongly felt earthquake",
      "sources": [
        "https://www.eskp.de/en/natural-hazards/tsunami-advice-indonesia-935937/"
      ]
    },
    {
      "action": "Once you have already reached high ground, use BMKG's InaTEWS as the official source to learn when a tsunami warning is confirmed or cancelled before returning to the coast",
      "success_rate": 0.7,
      "how": "",
      "condition": "After self-evacuating, to know when it is safe to return",
      "sources": [
        "https://inatews.bmkg.go.id/eng"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "workarounds_zh": [],
  "transition_graph": {
    "leads_to": [],
    "preceded_by": [],
    "frequently_confused_with": [
      "safety/volcanic-eruption-evacuation/id"
    ]
  },
  "official_doc_url": null,
  "official_doc_section": null,
  "error_code": null,
  "verification_tier": "ai_generated",
  "confidence": 0.65,
  "fix_success_rate": 0.8,
  "resolvable": "true",
  "first_seen": "2026-09-13",
  "last_confirmed": "2026-09-13",
  "last_updated": "2026-09-13",
  "evidence_count": 3,
  "tags": [],
  "locale": "en",
  "aliases": [
    "disaster/tsunami-earthquake-is-the-warning/id"
  ]
}