IT was early in the morning, but Haji Sholeh’s heart was pounding furiously. The floor of his home had suddenly erupted. Steaming mud spewed up from under the cracked floor tiles: it was hot enough to cook a soft-boiled egg. “I immediately evacuated my family,” he recalled.

This happened at the end of May 2006. Right away, residents of Renokenongo village suspected that the culprit was to be found across the Surabaya-Sidoarjo toll road, na