Stuck in the Mud
By afriadi hikmal
1 Nov 2009
It is more than three years since the mudflow in Sidoarjo, East Java, Indonesia first erupted, and the size of the pool it has formed and destruction it has brought is now mind-boggling, as these pictures show.
Sludge began gushing from a crack near Lapindo gas well on May 29, 2006, and formed a pool than soon expanded into a mud lake which spread further and further, swallowing land, homes, mosque and factories.
A number of geologists have said it was caused by negligence during the gas drilling, but in September the House of Representatives declared the mudflow the result of natural disaster. PT Lapindo Brantas has yet to finish compensating victims for the loss of land and homes.
