Indonesia to relocate 3,000 families close to mud flow on Java island

[Robbien]

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Indonesia will resettle more than 3,000 families whose houses have been swamped by mud surging from a gas exploration site and will dump the sludge into the sea to avoid more destruction, the government said Wednesday.

The mud appeared after an accident occurred deep in a drilling shaft on the seismically charged island of Java. It now covers more than 665 acres and is currently being contained by an ever-expanding network of dams that are breached almost daily. Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto said efforts to cap the so-called mud volcano would continue until scientists concluded there was no chance of stopping the sludge, which has been streaming from the ground at a rate of 1.7 million cubic feet a day for nearly four months.

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The company is trying to stem the flow by pumping in concrete, but geologists fear it is unstoppable. They say the mud could stop on its own anytime – or keep flowing for years to come.

Earlier Wednesday, protesters dumped a truckload of the mud outside the offices of Welfare Ministry Aburizal Bakrie to demand he do more to help the some 10,000 people displaced. Bakrie's family owns Lapindo.

Police did not try to stop the protesters from pouring about 1,540 pounds of mud on the sidewalk outside the ministry. Some of the demonstrators carried a banner saying “Stop your mud Mr. Bakrie or your mud will stop you!”

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20060927-0227-indonesia-mudvolcano.html