Temperature of Lapindo Mudflow Cooling Down

TEMPO Interactive, Sidoarjo: The efforts to halt the Lapindo mudflows by dropping concrete balls into the flow’s core are starting to show some success.

There are indications that the temperature of the mudflows pouring out from the core is decreasing.

“The temperature of some uncontrolled mudflows is falling,” said Bagus Indar Nurhandoko, Head of the Concrete Balls Insertion Team from Bandung Institute of Technology yesterday (03/20).

Bagus explained that his team has studied 23 out of 48 uncontrolled mudflows in Porong.

All the mudflows surveyed showed a dramatic decrease in temperature.

In fact, the temperature of one of the mudflows, 100 meters from the largest mudflow core, has decreased from 60 degrees Celsius to 38 degrees Celsius.

In addition, several uncontrolled mud flow spots are now already blocked and on Monday (03/19), the largest mudflow core stopped pouring out for half an hour.

“I hope this will be a positive indication as regards the insertion of the concrete balls,” said Bagus.

However, he was not yet able to confirm whether or not the fall in temperature and the stopping of some of some of the mudflows were affected by the insertion of the concrete balls.

This could only be found out in two weeks’ time at the fastest.

What was certain however, according to Bagus, was that for reason, the volume of the mudflows was decreasing.

Rudi Novryanto, spokesperson for the National Team for Handling the Lapindo Mudflows in Sidoarjo, said that because of these the team would start dropping more concrete balls.

These have been ordered from PT Wijaya Karya Beton Pasuruan and PT Pasific Presstres Indonesia Sidoarjo.