[Kabar-indonesia] 2 JP Mudflow Updates: Disaster Zone Declared [+ST; Ammonia Spill]

[JoyoNews at aol.com]

also: JP update: Activists bring mud to welfare minister;
JP: Company must take blame for Palembang 
ammonia leak: Walhi; and ST: Mud-hit area 
declared a disaster zone

The Jakarta Post
Thursday, September 28, 2006

Mudflow declared disaster zone 

The Jakarta Post, 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 contributed to the story from East Java. 

-----------------------------------------

The Jakarta Post
Thursday, September 28, 2006

Activists bring mud to welfare minister 

Ary Hermawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

photo: Pouring It On: Greenpeace Indonesia activists Wednesday poured mud 
taken from Sidoarjo in front of the office of Coordinating Minister for the 
People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie, whose family has a controlling stake in 
Lapindo. 
(JP/J. Adiguna) 

Environmental activists poured some 700 kilograms of toxic mud outside the 
office of welfare minister Aburizal Bakrie on Wednesday to protest the 
government's handling of the Sidoarjo mudflow disaster.

The mud was brought from Sidoarjo, East Java, where sludge has been gushing 
since May 29 from a gas drilling site owned by Lapindo Brantas Inc., which is 
linked to Aburizal's family. 

Protesters from Greenpeace Southeast Asia demanded that Lapindo take full 
responsibility for the disaster. 

"It is utterly shameless for the minister to distance himself from the 
disaster when his corporate group owns the controlling shares in this operation," 
Greenpeace Southeast Asia executive director Emmy Hafild said at the rally. 

The activists staged a silent protest, holding posters that read "Stop your 
mud Mr. Bakrie or your mud will stop you!" 

Police arrived at the scene but did not prevent the protesters from pouring 
the blackish-gray mud at the gate of Aburizal's office. No-one from the welfare 
ministry came out to talk with the activists. 

Greenpeace said it could not offer any solutions to the mudflow problem, but 
said the handling of the disaster should focus on evacuating residents from 
nearby areas. 

"We can't do anything about it. We're not experts," Emmy said. 

Greenpeace said it did not oppose the government's plan to dump muddy water 
into the sea and the Porong river, despite fears that this would pollute the 
ocean. 

The environmental group said dumping untreated mud and water into the aquatic 
environment is "a regrettable outcome arising from a very desperate 
situation". 

Emmy argued that the social problems arising from the tragedy were more 
urgent than the environmental damage. 

Others felt the mudflow itself should be the top priority. 

"All attempts now must be focused on how to stop the mud," said Nur Hidayati, 
another Greenpeace activist. 

Emmy said the government should force the Aburizal family or Lapindo to pay 
all the costs for evacuation, compensation, containment and rehabilitation 
associated with the disaster. 

"Taxpayers' money must not be used to deal with the disaster, which was 
caused by one of the largest industrial conglomerates in Indonesia," she said. 

"We demand corporate responsibility." 

Aburizal, who is one of the country's wealthiest businessmen, has been quoted 
as saying the mudflow was not his responsibility. 

Lapindo, in which the Bakrie Group has a controlling stake, has made payments 
to those left homeless by the disaster and is building an ever-expanding 
network of dams in an effort to contain the mud. 

----------------------------------------

[from yesterday's JP]

The Jakarta Post
September 27, 2006

Company must take blame for leak: Walhi 

Khairul Saleh, The Jakarta Post, Palembang

An ammonia gas leak Saturday at state fertilizer company PT Pusri in 
Palembang, South Sumatra, made residents living near the factory sick, an 
environmental group says.

The community living in the Tiga Hilir subdistrict next to the factory had 
become nauseous from the potentially fatal gas that began leaking on Saturday, 
the South Sumatra chapter of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) 
said. 

Walhi accused PT Pusri of negligence said the company should take 
responsibility for the incident under the 1997 Environmental Protection Law on industrial 
pollution. 

Campaign division head Dodi Reza said the provincial Environmental Impact 
Control Agency (Bapedalda) must be proactive in resolving the matter. 

"Bapedalda should not be afraid to publicly air its findings (on the leak)," 
Dody said. 

Residents said the company had tried to cover up its responsibility for the 
pollution. 

"We don't want PT Pusri just to apologize, but to take real measures and pay 
more attention to the local environment. The little people are always the 
victims, especially in the event of gas leaks," a local resident, Yani, said 
Tuesday. 

Another resident, Umar, said many villagers felt dizzy and had experienced 
breathing difficulties when they were performing the tarawih evening prayers 
(Saturday) because of the smell of ammonia in the mosque. "Some even fainted," he 
said. 

PT Pusri spokesman Jakfar Abdullah acknowledged a gas leak had occurred in 
the plant's 1B urea factory. He said the problem had been fixed an hour later by 
suspending the factory's operations. 

However, Jakfar claimed the gas was not responsible for residents' ailments 
because they had suffered from respiratory illnesses before the leak. 

"Results from medical tests indicate the residents felt nauseous not from 
ammonia but because they were already sick," Jakfar said. 

Dodi said PT Pusri was lying if it denied responsibility for making the 
villagers sick. He accused the medical staff at the local hospital of colluding 
with the company and trying to cover up residents' test results. 

"Our intention that patients would state they were suffering from breathing 
difficulties due to exposure to ammonia has failed. The company has said 
residents were suffering from (other) respiratory illnesses. That isn't true," Dody 
said. 

------------------------------------------

The Straits Times (Singapore)
Thursday, September 28, 2006

Mud-hit area declared a disaster zone

Devi Asmarani, Indonesia correspondent

IN JAKARTA - PRESIDENT SUSILO Bambang Yudhoyono yesterday declared the
area affected by a mudspill in East Java a disaster zone and ordered
that four affected villages be abandoned.

He also ordered that the Indonesian company, responsible for drilling
at a gas well near the affected site, pay at least 1.5 trillion rupiah
(about S$200 million) to deal with the mess.

That amount does not include compensation for the more than 10,000
people displaced by the disaster, and the cost of repairing a major
highway, train tracks and gas pipes.

'Around 400ha of the affected area flooded with mud is now declared a
disaster area and not fit for habitation,' Public Works Minister Djoko
Kirmanto told reporters yesterday after a meeting with the President
on the crisis.

'Almost 3,000 households from four villages will be resettled and will
be given money to rent a house for two years,' he said.

For almost four months now, steaming mud has been spewing from the
earth near an exploratory gas well and experts have said they cannot
predict when the outpouring might end.

The mud flow was triggered after an accident occurred deep inside a
drilling shaft in May and is currently being contained by an
ever-expanding network of dams that are breached almost daily.

The mud, which is 5m deep in some affected areas, is believed to come
from a reservoir some 6,000m below the ground.

Lapindo, which is owned by the family of Coordinating Minister for
Welfare Aburizal Bakrie, said seismic activity may have caused the mud
to break the surface.

Dr Yudhoyono directed that the sludge from the mud spill be dumped
into a river to avoid more destruction.

Three pumps that are capable of moving a total of 45,000 cu m of mud a
day will be installed to channel the untreated mud into the river.

The pumps will start operating early next month.

Mr Rudi Rubiandini, a member of a government team looking into the
disaster, said: 'Channelling the mud through the river is the only
way.'

Energy Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said last week that the sludge
would be diverted into other waters only if the situation turns
'dangerous'.

Earlier yesterday, protesters from Greenpeace South-east Asia dumped
about 700kg of mud from the devastating mud spill onto the sidewalk
outside Mr Bakrie's office.

They demanded that the minister take responsibility for the disaster.
Some of the protesters carried banners saying 'Mr Bakrie! Stop the
mud, or the mud stop you'.

More than 12,000 people have been forced to leave their homes in
Sidoarjo district since the disaster began.

------------------------------------------
Joyo Indonesia News Service
------------------------------------------