Mud gusher buries homes, factories

Not long ago Khaarul bin Arafin was a taxi driver, but he lost his car, his house and nearly everything he owned to a vast expanse of mud.

So instead of earning a living by driving tourists around, he now collects contributions from day-trippers who come from the nearest town, Surabaya, to stare at the disaster.

"I only managed to get a few possessions out before the house was buried, so I have lost everything," the 41-year-old said. "We heard a lot of promises about when this mess will be sorted out, but the mud only seems to spread. People are getting really angry."

The gigantic lake of mud that spurted up from deep underground to engulf hundreds of homes and 19 factories in East Java is a depressingly familiar crisis for the geologists and engineers who have been trying for months to stop it, so far without success.

from the San Francisco Chronicle