indonesia mud eruption

September 14, 2006 1:26 PM

Oops! A mud eruption probably triggered by oil exploration has been making thousands of Indonesians' lives miserable since May.
posted by thirteenkiller (20 comments total)

that's funny, because a mud eruption triggered by too much chili has been making my life miserable since lunch.
posted by grex at 1:29 PM on September 14, 2006

I was so ready to take you to task about being flippant over 10,000 people displaced from their homes, then I read this:

Hasan has turned to psychics for advice.

"I believe in miracles. Moses had a stick to part the sea. So, probably there is someone with powers out there who could help," said Hasan, whose call for help has attracted dozens of psychics who say they can stop the mud using supernatural powers.

"I am trying to find a solution. I don't care if people call me crazy," Hasan said, before meeting some of the psychics.

Psychics? That's their solution? Unless they mean psychics driving a shitload of bulldozers, I don't think it's going to help.

Though now that I think about it, the idea of a couple of hundred new-age hucksters standing before an advancing wall of mud, grimacing with the effort to repel it, just before they get consumed... well, that does kinda make me smile.
posted by quin at 1:37 PM on September 14, 2006 [1 favorite]

"The mud has already swamped an area larger than Monaco"

That deserves to win some kind of "sounds worse than it really is" award. Monaco is less than a square mile.
posted by justkevin at 1:38 PM on September 14, 2006

I know, it was very flippant but it just seemed too good to pass up.
I mean seriously a mud eruption you just don't get an opportunity for a poop joke like that every day.
posted by grex at 1:44 PM on September 14, 2006

Are there any pictures of the mud eruption out there?
posted by jrb223 at 1:50 PM on September 14, 2006

Here's an interesting article about it.
posted by thirteenkiller at 1:54 PM on September 14, 2006

Pix
posted by thirteenkiller at 1:57 PM on September 14, 2006

Are there any pictures of the mud eruption out there?

*resists urge to link to tubgirl*
posted by Floydd at 1:57 PM on September 14, 2006

More pix
posted by thirteenkiller at 1:58 PM on September 14, 2006

LA Times article, with some pics
posted by MetaMonkey at 2:08 PM on September 14, 2006

It's fetal oil. They better put it back until it's ready.
posted by sourwookie at 5:46 PM on September 14, 2006

It's filled with toxins, and a lot of people are going to get themselves seriously sick for having been in it.

One notes the oil company appears to have done SFA to fix the problem it apparently created. All those brown people can go fuck themselves, eh? Nice.
posted by five fresh fish at 8:11 PM on September 14, 2006

All those brown people can go fuck themselves, eh?

Well, since the company involved is Indonesian it would probably be more accurate to say "All those brown people can go fuck each other, eh?"

...or something along those lines, anyway.

The finances are a little tricky, but it looks like the majority owners are Indonesian. Not that this would absolve anyone of responsibility, but at minimum it's not a question of Whitey oppressing the Noble Savages.
posted by aramaic at 9:15 PM on September 14, 2006

One notes the oil company appears to have done SFA to fix the problem it apparently created.

As the LA Time article notes, there are "reports that Aburizal Bakrie, the government minister responsible for coordinating responses to natural and man-made disasters, owns a stake in the gas exploration project."

And all of a sudden, FEMA looks sort of cuddly.
posted by flashboy at 1:14 AM on September 15, 2006

Why people have to make everything about skin color?
posted by thirteenkiller at 4:35 AM on September 15, 2006

Coming soon to a television near you
posted by Deathalicious at 4:40 AM on September 15, 2006

Also, Monaco
posted by Deathalicious at 4:42 AM on September 15, 2006

Monaco is quite petite!
posted by thirteenkiller at 5:48 AM on September 15, 2006

I apologize; reading through to the bitter end reveals a that it is an Indonesian company at fault, and also that the company is at least flapping its lips about compensation, albeit apparently with the same efficiency and care as exhibited in the Katrina debacle.

My bad.
posted by five fresh fish at 8:36 AM on September 15, 2006

Why the hell did they decide to live near vital and important natural resources? Let's get our priorities straight here people. Remember, God gave the oil companies the Earth.
posted by Sukiari at 1:52 PM on September 15, 2006