2006年VOA标准英语-Indonesia to Evacuate Thousands from Mud Flow Z

By Chad Bouchard
Jakarta
27 September 2006

Indonesia is to resettle thousands of people whose homes have been engulfed¹ by mud surging from a gas exploration site.  Efforts to stop the flow of mud have failed.

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Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (file photo)

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has declared the part of East Java affected² by the mud flow a disaster zone and ordered the resettlement of thousands of residents.  

The mud has buried four villages and displaced more than 10,000 people since it started spewing from a drilling shaft³ in Sidoarjo in eastern Java nearly four months ago. 

Officials say 50,000 cubic meters of mud are pouring into the area daily and more than 270 hectares have been affected. Workers are struggling to contain the flow with dams.

Spokesperson for the Indonesian president, Andi Mallarangeng, says the government may have to dump treated mud into a nearby river if it threatens more homes.

"Some of the mud could be flowed into the Porong River in an emergency situation.  Some of them will be put into a landfill or something," Mallarangeng says. "The effort to stop the mud still has been continued because some of the experts said there still is a possibility to stop the mud."

The geothermal mud contains toxins⁴ that have caused respiratory and stomach illnesses in the surrounding area. 

Indonesian officials say the sludge may be dumped into the sea, but only as a last resort. 

Indonesia's environment minister had warned against disposing of the mud in the ocean because it would kill wildlife and fish vital to the local economy.  But he now supports the move, saying the treated mud will not be toxic⁵.

Mallarangeng says human health must come before environmental health in an emergency.

"It is a difficult decision, but we have to prioritize the people who might be threatened by the mud," Mallarangeng says.

Protesters from Greenpeace dumped hundreds of kilograms of the sludge outside the office of the minister for welfare, Aburizal Bakrie.  His family owns a controlling share in Lapindo, the company drilling at the site of the mud spill.

The gas exploration company has denied wrongdoing, but the protesters, and government officials, have called for the company to pay for the disaster.

The company has been trying to stop the sludge by drilling relief wells and pumping concrete into the shaft, but experts say the mud volcano is one of the largest ever recorded on land and may be too powerful to stop.

1 engulfed   

v.吞没，包住( engulf的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was engulfed by a crowd of reporters. 他被一群记者团团围住。
• The little boat was engulfed by the waves. 小船被波浪吞没了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

3 shaft   

n.(工具的)柄，杆状物

参考例句：

• He was wounded by a shaft.他被箭击中受伤。
• This is the shaft of a steam engine.这是一个蒸汽机主轴。

4 toxins   

n.毒素( toxin的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The seas have been used as a receptacle for a range of industrial toxins. 海洋成了各种有毒工业废料的大容器。
• Most toxins are naturally excreted from the body. 大部分毒素被自然排出体外。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。