At least four villages in Glaharum and West Siring subdistricts in Porong district were inundated when the giant mudflow pond overflew due to heavy rains in Sidoarjo regency on Tuesday.

In addition, demands that Lapindo Brantas Inc. pay compensation to the residents according to the presidential instruction are increasing.

Residents of 15 neighborhoods in the subdistricts staged a protest against Lapindo and government-backed Sidoarjo Mud Mitigation Agency (BPLS) handling the mudflow, demanding they take emergency action to avoid any human casualties in the coming days.

They have insisted on staying at the affected villages since Lapindo has yet to pay the remaining 80 percent in compensation as was required by Presidential Instruction No. 14, 2007. The government has so far turned a blind eye to the suspended payment.

The flood which submerged the villages was triggered by nonstop rainstorms in the regency since dawn, causing the giant pond to overflow.

Spokesman for the BPLS agency Ahmad Khusairi said the flood would not have affected the residents if Lapindo had paid the compensation in time and the pond would not have overflowed if the pond and the dike had been enlarged.

"Of the two subdistricts' 12,000 victims, only 900 have received a 20 percent compensation and have moved to safer areas in the nearby villages," he said, adding that the flooding was exacerbated by poor drainage and irrigation systems in the villages.

Ahmad also said that the section of the dike near the subdistricts was quite prone to collapsing if the rain continued for the next few days.

He said BPLS could not speed up construction on enlarging the dike because Lapindo had reduced the supply of materials, and both workers and heavy equipment such as excavators and dump trucks could not work at their optimum.

"The projects need at least 200 trucks of sand and stone everyday while Lapindo has reduced the supply of materials to only 100 trucks of sand and stone daily due to the financial crisis." – JP/Ridwan Max Sijabat