Reminds Me of Mt Pinatubo Eruption

I can't fully remember how the catastrophic Mt Pinatubo eruption happened. Shame on me though because during that time, my concern was too superficial. It may have affected me but maybe just the least. I am just reminded of the vast ill-effect when I pass by the area. For me now, it was a bygone era.

But when I saw what happened to Java, Indonesia last night in this telly program, I was reminded once again.

Boiling lava flowing out of the crater of the volcano.

Houses buried in the mud. Actually, there are 12 villages that are down there now.

Thousands of homeless people seeking refuge in safe areas.

Roof of factories and mosque poking up the mud.

The whole picture of the disaster is so horrible.

And the sad fact according to geologist is, this devastation is not a natural disaster rather a man-made one.

PETER OVERTON: No-one knows how it will end, but we do know how it started — with the mining company's stuff-up. Here's what happened. This time, last year, there were exploring for natural gas just to the right of the plume of steam. Around here were rice paddies and villages — you can see the roof of the local mosque poking up through the mud just over there. Now, when the drilling got to nearly 3km under the earth, it struck a high-pressure zone and the result was catastrophic.

DR MARK TINGAY: When they were drilling this well, they have encountered this chamber, or this very large reservoir of a highly pressured water. They have lost control there — that water has started to come up the bore hole and then got into another shallower level, brought up — captured all this mud, eroded all this mud and clay as its come and then erupted to the surface. So about 200 metres away from where they were drilling.

People that were affected are trying their best to survive. They make a living out of rescuing some valuable materials from factories and sell them.

The mining company though has a compensation offer to the villagers. It is going to buy the land and house that were shuttered by the mud if the owner can provide the title. And they all well know that most if not all of them only saved themselves when the mud were gushing through their home.

What the geologist fear the most is when the area that is covered with mud right now will collapse very quickly.

DR MARK TINGAY: Now, what we really fear that might happen is that that could collapse very, very quickly. That all the water and all the soil that has been pulled out of the ground could cause the ground above, the surface, to collapse. Tens of metres — 20, 30 metres down — in a few, just a few seconds, and that would be catastrophic.

What a horrendous scene it could be!

More of the article here.