Sidoarjo Mudflow

In May 2006, Indonesian Company Lapindo Brantas Inc. was drilling for gas near Surabaya in East Java when instead of gas it struck mud. When I was there 150,000 cubic metres of mud was flowing from the ground each day. Thousands of Javanese people had lost their homes, the mud flooding entire villages, in places 20 metres deep. 5 of these photos were printed in the Business section of The Herald Sun with an article by Alice Coster titled "The mud nightmare that will not end" on the 6th October 2007.

The structure sticking out of the mud in this photo is a factory, the tallest thing in this village, at 20 metres.