Java: sea of boiling mud advances
Since the end of May, mud has been oozing endlessly from a mining well. It has already displaced more than 10,000 people, invaded homes and is threatening important highways.
Jakarta (AsiaNews/Agencies) Boiling mud that has been oozing out of a well in Java island recently breached a containment dam and invaded another residential area, threatening to reach an important railway track.
"People have panicked as if a tsunami was coming," said Sidoarjo district chief, Mochammad Pain. "In a second, my office was flooded as were other people's houses around here."
The mud has invaded railway lines and threatens to reach the track linking Surabaya to Jakarta.
Since 27 May, 50,000 cubic metres of mud have been oozing daily out of a gas well just outside the industrial city of Surabaya in eastern Java. It has already submerged 25 km sq of land, covered cultivated terrain and irrigation channels, invaded a major highway and forced more than 10,000 people to leave their homes. All efforts to stop its onset have failed. Rachmat Witoelar, the environment minister, said he opposed a plan to channel the mud into the sea because of the high risk that it could alter the ecosystem and instead he proposed building a larger embankment to hold the mud.
The ownership of the gas mine is divided among two local companies, PT Lapindo Brantas (50%) and PT MedcoEnergi Oil&Gas Brantas (32%) and the Australian leader in the sector, Santos Ltd (18%). The well is 3km deep. The companies said the disaster was due to "natural causes" so the government should make good the damages. Lapindo's management claimed the May 27 earthquake centered in Yogyakarta, had opened up deep faults underground, thus causing the mud to flow out. Many experts said the epicenter of the quake was over 300km away and this distance would have largely diminished the force of the blow.
At first, government experts sent to look into the causes of the mudflow said it was difficult for firms to "predict" such mishaps because of the "complex nature of the country's geology". Political analysts have observed that the Lapindo company belongs to the rich Bakrie family. All the same, in mid-June, a letter was issued by MedcoEnergi, accusing its partner, Lapido of "gross negligence" for seriously violating security measures. In particular, Lapindo allegedly failed to put a nine-inch (around 23cm) thick protective casing in the well to a depth of 8,500 feet (2,365m). This, according to experts, would have assured that the well was closed and prevented the outflow of mud, which would not have been able to escape from the ground which is what apparently happened.
Shortly afterwards, Indonesia's vice president, Jusuf Kalla, announced that Lapindo would compensate thousands of people affected by the mud flows. The company, however, has said it will be able to compensate affected people in as much as it is insured against similar events. Meanwhile, the people displaced by the mudflow have been crammed into sheds and stores.
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02/06/2006
