Indonesia to relocate 3,000 families close to mud flow on Java island

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/09/2006 (6987 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) – Indonesia will resettle more than 3,000 families whose houses have been swamped by mud surging from a gas exploration site and will dump the sludge into the sea to avoid more destruction, a minister said Wednesday.

The mud appeared after an accident occurred deep in a drilling shaft on the seismically charged island of Java. It now covers more than 270 hectares and is currently being contained by an ever-expanding network of dams that are breached almost daily.

Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto said efforts to cap the so-called mud volcano would continue until scientists concluded there was no chance of stopping the sludge, which has been streaming from the ground at a rate of 50,000 cubic metres daily for nearly four months.

In the meantime, the mud will be dumped in the sea and more than 3,000 families would be resettled on the orders of the president because the land “was no longer fit for human habitation,” he said.

The environment minister, who had earlier threatened to block efforts to dispose of the mud in the sea on grounds it might be harm the environment, said the mud was not toxic and that he now supported the plan.

Police have said they intend to file criminal charges against nine employees from gas exploration company Lapindo Brantas over the disaster, alleging its drilling activities triggered the mud and that it failed to respond to the torrent in the correct way.

The company says seismic activity might have caused the mud to break the surface.

Basuki Hadi Muljono, the head of a government team tasked with handling the disaster, said resettling the families and disposing of the mud would cost at least US$162 million.

The costs would be born by Lapindo, not the government, he said.

Experts say the mud volcano is one of the largest ever recorded on land. The mud is believed to come from a reservoir some 6,000 metres below the ground that has been pressurized by tectonic activity or by the accumulation of hydrocarbon gases.

The company is trying to stem the flow by pumping in concrete, but geologists fear it is unstoppable. They say the mud could stop on its own anytime – or keep flowing for years to come.

Earlier Wednesday, protesters dumped a truckload of mud from the torrent outside the offices of Welfare Ministry Aburizal Bakrie to demand he do more to help the some 10,000 people displaced. Bakrie’s family owns Lapindo.

“This is out of control and not enough is being done to stop it,” said Emmy Hafild, executive director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia, the environmental group that held the protest. “Bakrie should not run away from his responsibilities.”

Police did not try to stop the protesters from pouring about 700 kilograms of mud on the sidewalk outside the ministry. Some of the demonstrators carried a banner saying “Stop your mud Mr. Bakrie or your mud will stop you!”

Bakrie, who is one of Indonesia’s wealthiest businessmen, has been quoted as saying the mud flow was not his responsibility.