Mudflow, Eastern Java, Indonesia
26 June 2008

Note: The area of coverage in this IKONOS image is approximately 4.5 km x 4.5 km.
The reduced resolution image on display has undergone compression and so does not represent the true resolution of the original satellite image.

A large mudflow erupted on 29 March 2006 in the Sidoarjo region of east Java, south of Surabaya, an area which was being explored for natural gas. The flow of hot mud, boiling water, and gas spread over a considerable area, destroying a number of villages, towns, factories, rice fields, and prawn and fish farms. Tens of thousands of people had to be relocated. The Porong-Gempol toll road, rail connections, and gas pipelines were dislocated. Part of the flow was diverted via the Porong River to reach the Strait of Madura. The sequential events of this environmental disaster have been recorded in a series of high-resolution images on the website of the Centre for Remote Imaging, Sensing and Processing (CRISP). This is the situation on 26 June 2008, 27 months after the beginning of the disaster.