11,000 people flee homes as hot toxic mud engulfs villages
Pastor Dale Morgan
*
11,000 people flee homes as hot toxic mud engulfs villages and farmland*
· Prospector accused of causing massive eruption
· Residents complain of inadequate compensation
John Aglionby in Porong
Thursday August 24, 2006
The Guardian
Four villages and 19 factories have been submerged in a 240-hectare
(600-acre) sea of mud in East Java that is growing up to 50,000 cubic
metres a day in a major environmental disaster triggered during an oil
exploration venture.
A few rooftops are still visible, along with hastily constructed dykes
which could not hold back the flow of toxic mud that began on May 29
around an oil exploration drilling rig.
Eleven miles of dykes are being built by 1,500 soldiers and labourers
around the clock to contain the growing catastrophe, in which 11,000
people have lost their homes or been forced to evacuate.
The company, which is facing daily protests from residents, now accepts
its drilling may have caused the world's largest disaster of its kind.
A 100 metre-high column of thick white smoke is visible several miles
from Porong district, 22 miles south of Indonesia's second largest city,
Surabaya, in East Java, and the smell of rotten eggs pervades the hazy
tropical air. The mud is up to seven metres deep, and every few seconds
the earth jolts and another dollop of hot sediment belches out.
Occasionally the mud exits more dramatically, shooting up several metres
into the air with a loud "whooosh". The gas stings people's eyes and it
is impossible to breathe without taking in the fumes, even with a mask.
The drilling company is PT Lapindo Brantas, which is controlled by the
family of Indonesia's powerful senior welfare minister, Aburizal Bakrie.
Its senior vice-president in charge of the clean-up, Imam Agustino,
admits he has no idea when the mudflow will be stopped, let alone when
the affected land will be useable again.
"We don't know if the source of the mud really comes from the well bore
or somewhere else," he told the Guardian. "The best-case scenario [for
stopping the mudflow] is now mid-November, but I have to admit it might
never be stopped."
Porong's "mud volcano" is coming from liquid sediment up to 2,750 metres
(9,000ft) deep that was formed 5m years ago, the Jakarta Post reported.
The first two attempts to block the flow - by plugging the borehole,
which extends two miles underground, and pumping concrete into its
bottom - had to be abandoned when the mud continued to rise.
The current plan is to drill into the mud reservoir from three
directions and fill it with concrete. "The problems are that we don't
know how big the reservoir is and there's never been anything like this
on this scale so we don't have any precedent to help us," Mr Imam said.
Preparations are already under way for the worst-case scenario. "We want
the well to be stopped but if we can't do that we have to be ready,"
Indonesia's environment minister, Rachmat Witoelar, told the Guardian as
he inspected a potential site for the water from the mud to be dumped at
sea. "We would siphon off the water, treat it and then pump it through
pipes 16 kilometres [10 miles] to the sea. The mud will then be treated
further before being removed."
Despite Mr Imam claiming it was too early to blame Lapindo, Mr Witoelar
had no doubts. "Lapindo has to pay for its mistake and restore the
environment," he said. Nine people, mainly from Lapindo and the drilling
sub-contractor, are being investigated by police, and trials could start
within weeks. The drilling rig that was being used when the mud started
flowing will be introduced as evidence.
Unless the mudflow is stopped soon, other problems are expected to
exacerbate the crisis. As Lapindo runs out of places to build ponds to
store the mud, the sediment threatens to cover the main railway line
just three metres away. The main motorway to the region on another side
of the sea of mud has already been raised 2.5 metres and is being raised
another two metres. Other villages are in danger of being submerged and
experts estimate that the land has been sinking by up to three
centimetres a month since May.
The rainy season, forecast to start in October, may also worsen the
situation. "Who knows what will happen when it starts raining," said
Andiko Harmiyul, the deputy leader of the mud management team. "All I
can say is that we will build the dykes as high and big as necessary."
For the 11,000 people made homeless, Lapindo is paying rent for
alternative accommodation for two years plus moving costs, 300,000
rupiah (£17.50) a person a month for food, arranging alternative
schooling and negotiating to buy the destroyed houses. Thousands of
people have received free medical treatment. Farmers are receiving
compensation of two years' income in advance and factories are being
relocated.
But many feel the company is being untransparent, unfair and uncaring.
"We've all stopped work but we've been given no money to make up for
what we've lost," said Siti Mualimil, a food seller who, along with
8,000 other people, has been camping for two months in a market that had
been built but not yet used. "The farmers are doing much better than us."
Car mechanic Dodi Sumartono said: "I reckon I'm earning about 50% less
than I was before the mudflow started. We now go to people to fix their
cars rather than them coming to us but it's not the same."
Mr Imam said the company did not know what to do to help those affected.
"We're an oil and gas company so we're not equipped to handle them," he
said. "That's why we leave it to the local government who has the
skilled people."
But the consequence is that many residents believe Lapindo is shirking
its responsibilities. "Why don't they come and deal with us," Ms Siti
said. "Are they afraid?"