Drilling or an earthquake in the Porong subdistrict of East Java province , Indonesia , may have resulted in the Sidoarjo mud flow on May 29 , 2006 , . The mud covered about 440 hectares , ( 2.73 mi2 ) , and inundated four villages , homes , roads , rice fields , and factories , displacing about 24,000 people and killing 14 . The gas exploration company involved was operated by PT Lapindo Brantas and the earthquake that may have triggered the mud volcano was the 6.3 magnitude Yogyakarta earthquake of May 27 , 2006 . According to geologists who have been monitoring Lusi and the surrounding area , the system is beginning to show signs of catastrophic collapse . It was forecasted that the region could sag the vent and surrounding area by up to in the next decade . In March 2008 , the scientists observed drops of up to in one night . Most of the subsidence in the area around the volcano is more gradual , at around per day . A study by a group of Indonesian geo-scientists led by Bambang Istadi predicted the area affected by the mudflow over a ten-year period . More recent studies carried out in 2011 predict that the mud will flow for another 20 years , or even longer . Now named Lusi – a contraction of '' Lumpur Sidoarjo '' , where '' lumpur '' is the Indonesian word for " mud " – the eruption represent an active hybrid system
Yogyakarta earthquake
2006 Yogyakarta earthquake
Mud volcano