The Jakarta Post, 3/19/2007 4:26:39 PM
East Java mudflow stops for 35 minutes
JAKARTA (JP): Mudflow in Sidoarjo regency, East Java stopped for 35 minutes
Monday as engineers had dropped thousands of concrete balls into the mouth of mud
volcano.
Haryo Bagus Handoko, an engineer who lead the concrete ball droppings, said
Monday that it was a good indication over the effort to stop the mud flow, which have
taken place since May last year.
But Bagus added that his team did not expect that the mudflow would stop
permanently in the near future because the mud volcano could not be suddenly closed
to avoid great volcanic explosion.
"We expect that the mudflow would stop within next one or two months," he was
quoted by Elshinta news radio as saying.
The gaping hole in the ground has spit out a large-scale torrent of hot, black mud,
swallowing thousands of homes outside Indonesia's second-largest city of Surabaya
and attracting amazed geologists from around the world.
Most say the flow is unstoppable, but Indonesian experts refuse to listen and have
recently begun dropping thousands of concrete balls into the mouth of the mud
volcano.
Mud volcanoes are fairly common along volatile tectonic belts and in areas rich in oil
and natural gas, like Indonesia. But the eruption just outside Surabaya is exceptional
because of the sheer volume of mud surging from the hole each day.
Twelve villages and 20 factories have been swallowed, with mud-caked roofs and the
lamppost tops the only reminders of what once was there.
Some scientists suggest the rupture was triggered by improper drilling at a nearby
natural gas site. Other research points to a major earthquake two days before the
mud first appeared in a rice field in May 2006.
The ball-dropping operation, which began last month, follows several failed attempts to
contain or stop the mud. (**)
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