Jakarta/Sidoarjo – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Wednesday declared areas swamped by the mudflow in Sidoarjo, East Java, a disaster zone and ordered some 3,000 affected families to be permanently relocated.
Speaking after a Cabinet meeting in Jakarta, Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto said the President had declared some 400 hectares affected by the mud, which has been gushing out of a Lapindo Brantas Inc. gas exploration site since May 29, as no longer fit for human habitation.
"That's why residents in the area have to be relocated," Djoko was quoted by Antara as saying after Yudhoyono met with the government team appointed to deal with the mudflow. He said Yudhoyono had ordered 2,983 affected families to be relocated. The President also ordered they be provided with jobs as well as financial compensation.
The minister said land in West Porong district was being prepared by the Sidoarjo regency administration for the affected families, but Djoko said "there is still a chance to find other locations if it better suits residents".
He said the President also told officials to continue their efforts to stop the mudflow. Responding to a plan to dump the mud into sea, the minister said work would begin in days. He said the mud would be directed to Porong River using pumps, and the river would then carry to the mud to the sea.
Since the toxic mud began spewing from a gas exploration well operated by Lapindo, which is indirectly owned by the family of Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie, more than 10,000 people from seven villages in two districts have been forced from their homes.
Experts say it is impossible to predict when the mudflow might stop. "About Rp 1.5 trillion (US$164 million) will have to be spent by Lapindo for the installation of pumps and the construction of dikes," Basuki Hadimuljono, who heads the government-appointed disaster management team, was quoted by AFP.
He said some 126,000 cubic meters of mud was oozing from the earth daily. Engineers have been struggling to contain the sludge – which reaches as deep as five meters in some areas – by building a series of dikes.
"The budget will solely be shouldered by the company and no state budget will be used. This amount does not include costs for relocating people and the realignment of the road, train tracks and pipes," Basuki said.
Minister Djoko said the key Surabaya-Gempol turnpike linking the country's second city of Surabaya to the rest of Java, gas pipes under the road as well as train tracks would have to be shifted as a result of the disaster.
Siti Maimunah, the national coordinator of Jatam, a watchdog of the country's mining industry, said the public needed more information about the risks of shifting the mud into the sea, insisting the government clarify contradictory reports about the toxicity of the mud.
"Stop fooling the public by saying that there is nothing wrong with the mud. The massive volume in itself poses huge risks to the environment and people's health," she told AFP.
In Sidoarjo, some residents have set up huge banners around their villagers demanding the mud be dumped into the sea. "The mud should be dumped to the sea. If it isn't the dikes will break apart during the rainy season and inundate houses," Ishak, a Besuki resident, said Wednesday.
He said residents were not concerned about the potential environmental costs of moving the mud into the sea, saying their lives were at risk. "The media should not listen to Walhi (the Indonesian Forum for the Environment), which says the mud will damage the marine ecosystem. We need to be saved here," he said.
[Indra Harsaputra and ID Nugroho contribute to the story from East Java.]