Porong – Indonesians displaced by the world's worst mud volcano disaster prayed for help and compensation Thursday beside the sea of sludge that swallowed their homes exactly two years ago.
Around 1,000 people from the affected area of Sidoarjo district of east Java gathered beside the stinking slime for a solemn prayer service, seeking deliverance from further eruptions as well as help to rebuild their lives.
The 2006 eruption killed 13 people, displaced some 36,000 and inundated 12 villages. New research says there are signs the entire area, of 640 hectares (1,580 acres) of Javanese countryside, is sinking and forming a huge crater.
"We prayed so that no other disaster befalls us. We also pray that all the problems we are facing from the mud flow will soon be overcome and settled," displaced resident Sasmito told AFP after the commemoration service. A court has ruled the eruption was a natural disaster but residents, researchers and human rights groups blame exploratory drilling for gas in the area by a company belonging to the country's richest man.
The volcano, dubbed "Lusi," began spurting its methane-filled sludge over the densely populated farming area from a crater that suddenly appeared alongside the drilling well operated by Lapindo Brantas.
The oil and gas company, which is owned by the family of billionaire welfare minister Aburizal Bakrie, has blamed the spectacular mudflow on an earlier earthquake.
The government has ordered the company to pay compensation to residents of only four villages which were in the immediate path of the mudflow, leaving residents of other affected settlements without redress.
And of those entitled to compensation, most have only received 20 percent of the money Lapindo has promised to pay.
"The government only needs to have the political will and the political courage to push the company to pay compensation," said Chalid Muhammad of the Movement to Promote Justice for the Lapindo Victims.
The company took out a half-page advertisement in The Jakarta Post daily on Thursday to underline its "social commitment" to the area, and reiterated that it was not responsible for the enormous mess.
"The fact is most experts believe this is a natural phenomenon," the company said, citing three Indonesian geologists.
A study by Durham University experts last year found the eruption was "almost certainly" caused by work on the exploratory gas borehole.
The national human rights watchdog on Wednesday said its own investigation had concluded that the disaster amounted to a "serious human rights violation" and called on the government to punish those responsible.
So far no one has been charged with any crime in relation to the disaster.
Meanwhile the methane-filled mud is continuing to ooze from the earth at a rate of about 60 Olympic swimming pools a day and all schemes to stop it – including dropping huge concrete balls down the hole – have failed.
"We feel the government is being toothless against Lapindo. But people are not stupid – everyone knows about the relationship between Lapindo, Bakrie and the president," The Jakarta Post said in an editorial.
"But let them play their game, the people will eventually choose," it added, referring to general and presidential elections next year.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono last year ordered Lapindo to pay 3.8 trillion rupiah (420.7 million dollars) for compensation and mud containment efforts.
The government has also decided to allot 700 billion rupiah (77 million dollars) in state funds to the relief and rebuilding effort, although it is unclear how much of that money has been dispersed.