VIVAnews - Today, November 17, a documentary about the Sidoarjo mud burst disaster was released in Scottsdale, Arizona, United States.
The launch of the movie entitled “Mud Max: Investigative Documentary-Sidoarjo Mud Volcano Disaster” coincides with the “Living with the Planet” symposium that was held by Arizona State University’s School of Earth and Space Exploration.
Some of the reputable geologists from Europe and United States, including the United States Geological Survey (USGS), attended the event.
The movie, which was directed by British company Immodicus and Arizona State University, involves several numbers of researchers, geologists, drilling experts and case-studying practitioners.
“Mud Max project is the result of 27 month-long investigation conducted by Immodicus together with Arizona State University’s School of Earth and Space Exploration,” says the press release received by VIVAnews on Monday, November 16.
Sidoarjo mud burst out on May 29, 2006, at about 5am 150 meters away from Banjar Panju 1 drilling area in Jatirejo village, Porong, Sidoarjo. The hot mud emerged two days after a 6.3-magnitude earthquake shook Jogjakarta.
The disaster captivated the world’s attention due to its overwhelming impacts. About 40 thousand residents lost their houses, belongings and relatives.
Until now, the mud has kept perking towards the earth’s surface with the speed of 150 thousand per cubic meter everyday.
The experts have splitting views on the case. The first one assumes that the disaster was caused by the drilling activity in the area while the second opinion says that the mud volcano was triggered by the seismic activity of Jogjakarta earthquake.
Up until now, the speculations have continued to rise. The movie producer Gary Hayes said the purpose of “Mud Max” is to present facts and views from every side so that the public could make their own conclusion out of the case.
“We expect the documentary to be able to represent the horrible risk faced by the people of Indonesia who are living in the most eruptive location on earth,” Hayes said.
Translated by: Nataya Ermanti
