THE ads have appeared in numerous media outlets: newspapers, magazines and television stations. They all say the same thing: the hot mudflow at the Lapindo Brantas site in Sidoarjo, East Java, is a geological phenomenon, a natural disaster.

The analyses of a number of prominent geologists are quoted in the ads. They come from different places. One is a geology lecturer from the Bandung Institute of Technology, another is Gregori Achamanov from