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Authorities
in East Java have raised the alert level for the mudflow spewing from an
underground volcano in Sidoarjo after nearby dikes nearly failed.
The mudflow
has destroyed hundreds of homes, swamped 720 hectares of land and displaced
more than 11,000 people since it began erupting in late May 2006.
“The
situation is alarming,” said Achmad Khusaeri, a spokesman for the Sidoarjo
Mudflow Mitigation Agency (BPLS), adding that the underground volcano had begun
to erupt again after lying virtually dormant for years.
The mudflow
had fallen from an average of 100,000 cubic meters per day in 2009 to 13,000
cubic meters per day last year.
Achmad said
the authorities had added another meter to the height of the dikes as well as
reinforcing them with rocks held together by chicken wire. BPLS officers are
also monitoring the dikes 24 hours a day.
Dwi
Arisanto, an official at state railway operator Kereta Api Indonesia, said
tracks along the disaster-hit area were being reinforced.
“We are
also limiting train speeds to no more than 20 kilometers per hour,” he said.
East Java
Governor Sukarwo said the surge was happening in eastern Sidoarjo, while in the
west the mudflow had receded.
The
provincial government, he said, was channeling the surging mud to the area’s
less-populated south.
Sukarwo
added that rain could also worsen the surging mudflow and cause the dikes to
weaken.
The
governor visited the Presidential Palace on Tuesday, urging the central
government to push Minarak Lapindo Jaya, the holding company of the gas
drilling operation that is widely blamed for the mudflow, to expedite its
compensation scheme.
Under the
scheme, residential land was valued at Rp 1 million ($113) per square meter,
while farmland was valued at Rp 120,000 per square meter. However, Sukarwo said
Lapindo had only paid compensation for 72 percent of the inundated lands,
adding that he urged the company to pay for at least 80 percent by the end of
the year.
“I will let
the president, vice president and the ministers push for the compensation and I
will try to calm down the people,” the governor said.
Sukarwo
said Lapindo should disburse all of its compensation by April next year. Three
villages are now completely submerged by the mudflow.
Separately,
Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
was expanding the area deemed to be devastated by the disaster.
The
minister said that on Monday, there would be nine neighborhoods that would be
added to the compensation scheme, costing an additional Rp 1 trillion to Rp 2
trillion.
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Lapindo Told to Shell Out For Mudflow Before Drilling Again
Satellite picture received from Ikonos Satellite Image on May 29, 2008 shows the mud volcano and its surrounding area in Sidoarjo, East Java. (AFP/Ikonos Satellite Image)
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