Multimedia Friday: Videos of the Java Mud Volcano

At least three videos of the East Java volcanic mudflow have been posted on YouTube over the past few months. Between the photos and the videos, it seems that ordinary people have had limited access to the flooded area, since many familiar scenes have shown up more than once. In each of the videos below, however, the 'reporters' appear to have had some special access to get closer to the crater by virtue of their being a BBC reporter, an oil company employee, or a charming tourist.

• BBC Report - Andrew Harding reports for the BBC on the Java mud volcano four months after the eruption. According to the report, workers are drilling down to the source of the mudflow, where they will attempt to block the flow by pumping in concrete. At the same time, workers are building an earthen wall to contain the flow and pumping some of the muddy water into the river, potentially creating a second environmental disaster.
• Oil Contractor Video - This video was recorded in September by an American with a southern accent who appears to be an oil company employee (based also on his other videos). There's very little narration, but the video does show a fire monitor exposed on dry land in August and mostly submerged only 18 days later in September following a sudden subsidence of the land. The land has subsided five meters since the eruption in May.
• American Tourist Video - Jonbone17, an American tourist, charmed the local Indonesian oil field workers into letting him roam around near the crater. They even posed for pictures with him (above). The last half of the video is actually a slideshow with good images of the new dam/wall that's being built to contain the mudflow.