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Study reignites Lusi mud volcano debate
Scientists have ignited fresh controversy over whether a catastrophic mud volcano that erupted in Indonesia in 2006 was triggered by oil company drilling. Published in the journal Nature Geoscience , a new study says a distant earthquake, not drilling by oil and gas firm Lapindo Brantas, caused the eruption.
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New study ignites debate over Indonesia’s mud volcano
PARIS (AFP) – Scientists on Sunday sparked a fresh debate over what triggered Indonesia’s Lusi mud volcano, still spewing truckloads of slime more than seven years after it leapt catastrophically into life. Published in the journal Nature Geoscience, the study strengthens the argument by gas company PT Lapindo Brantas that the disaster was caused by…
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Nothing Amiss With Mud Volcano Budget: Aburizal
Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie said he was confused claims by several leaders of the House of Representatives that they were unaware of an article in the 2013 revised state budget that allocated Rp 155 billion ($15.7 million) to overcome the impacts of the Sidoarjo mudflow disaster, which some experts say was caused by the…
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Politician pleads ignorance on Lapindo funds
Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Pramono Anung Wibowo of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) has claimed that most lawmakers were caught off guard with the inclusion of Rp 155 billion (US$15.6 million) in the revised state budget to pay for the mitigation effort in the Lapindo mudflow disaster in Sidoarjo, East…
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Sidoarjo Mud Volcano Budget Share Raises Eyebrows
Criticism has mounted over the government’s lack of discussion regarding the Rp 155 billion ($15.7 million) fund allocation in the 2013 state budget for the management of the Sidoarjo mud volcano in East Java. The announcement of compensation in the revised budget, approved last night, has raised concerns about the government’s ability to swiftly compensate…
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Indonesians refuse to stop fighting extractive industry
Imagine coming from school to find your house submerged in grey mud and your community destroyed forever. This is what happened to Yora, a young girl from the village of Siring in eastern Java, Indonesia and her father Marsudiyono. They were among the many victims of the Sidoarjo mud volcano, the biggest in the world,…
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A Monument for Lapindo
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Last May 29, a newly erected monument has stands on top of the mudflow embankment at point 21 with words engraved saying, “The Lapindo mud flow has buried our village and all Lapindo has done is throw around fake promises. The nation has neglected to recover our lives; our voices will never fade, so…
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Long Wait For Victims of Indonesian Mud Volcano
Thousands left homeless by a volcanic mud eruption in Indonesia are still waiting for the final payment of their compensation. It’s been seven years since the Lapindo mud flow disaster, when a sea of mud first began bubbling up, submerging homes and livelihoods. Many blame oil drilling activities for the river of mud that erupted,…
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‘Mud river’ could sink Bakrie candidacy
A SEVEN-YEAR-OLD natural disaster in the eastern part of Indonesia’s Java island that has remained an unresolved environmental and human tragedy is threatening to weigh on next year’s presidential elections. The disaster, an incessant mudflow that began near a Lapindo Brantas oil- and gas-drilling site – owned by the powerful Bakrie family – days after an…
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A report from the Lapindo mud flow
It is astonishing in size. The mud stretches as far as the eye can see and it still has steam billowing out from the middle of it. We are in Surabaya in the East of Java, Indonesia, where we have travelled with JATAM (the Indonesian anti-mining network) to the site of the ‘Lapindo mud flow.’ The mud…
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For the Future
Since May 2006, the Lapindo mudflow destroyed the lives of the people in eight villages in Porong, Sidoarjo, East Java. Besuki village is one of them, and this is their story. This film was screened and discussed by the Besuki villagers at Camp Sambel. © engagemedia.org | 29 Juni 2012
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Lapindo mudflow victims still waiting for payment
Hundreds of people affected by the Lapindo mudflow in Sidoarjo, East Java, have yet to receive compensation seven years after the disaster. The victims have staged rallies to demand payment for the loss of their assets, swallowed by the mud from a drilling well. They erected an ogoh-ogoh (papier mache effigy) with the face of…
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Surabaya’s malodorous mud
There’s a volcano that spews mud in Indonesia and it remains in the news despite the fact that the eruption occurred seven years ago. That’s because, after so long, it’s still mired in disputes around displaced people, allegations against one of Indonesia’s most powerful families, and ecological disaster.
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Yudhoyono rakes over the muck of Lapindo mudflow
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has made a scathing criticism of the poor handling of the Sidoarjo mudflow by the gas exploration firm PT Minarak Lapindo Jaya, partly owned by the family of Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie. Andi Arief, special assistant to the President for disaster mitigation and social assistance disclosed that Yudhoyono had criticized…
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Lapindo Victims May not be Compensated on May
TEMPO.CO, Sidoarjo – The Head of Lapindo Sidoarjo Special Committee (Pansus) Nur Ahmad Syaifuddin, doubted that the Minarak Lapindo Jaya (MLJ) will compensate the Lapindo mudflow victims by May 2013. Earlier, MLJ promised to compensate a total of Rp 786 billion (US$ 80,85 million) losses by May. The Committee urged the government to immediately allocate the compensation…
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Harwati: The woman ojek driver of Porong
As the mudflow expands to more villages and lands in Sidoarjo, East Java, residents in the Porong subdistrict are doing whatever it takes to survive another day. Most residents who were once farmers and factory workers are now working as motorcycle taxi drivers (ojek). While most of them are men, at least one woman has…
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The ‘Evolution’ of Lapindo Mudflow Mitigation Policy
On September 8, 2006, the President established Tim Nasional Penanggulangan Semburan Lumpur Panas di Sidoarjo (Timnas, National team for mudflow mitigation in Sidoarjo). Timnas was established after the signing of Keppres 13/2006. According to Keppres 13, Timnas would tenure for six months, and could be extended if needed (Keputusan Presiden 2006, Art. 7). At that…
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The Goat that Couldn’t Stop the Mud Volcano
This essay touches on some of the cultural, political, religious, and environmental factors that shape these understandings of human and nonhuman being in the context of social justice in the aftermath of the Lapindo mudflow.
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Mud and the Minister: A Tale of Woe in Java
by Anton Foek, Special to CorpWatch July 20th, 2007 It was midnight when the earth exploded in Sidoardjo in East Java, Indonesia, sending a torrent of burning hot mud pouring from the earth’s inner depths. Fadjariawan and Ibu Aisyah Sukantowere were in bed when a dull rumbling noise awoke them. The 35-year-old taxi driver and his wife…
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Money Can’t Buy Him Love
Five years of toxic sludge flung over Bakrie’s image | As one of the richest and most powerful men in Indonesia, Aburizal Bakrie gets just about whatever Aburizal Bakrie wants. But to his frustration, Bakrie, the head of Golkar, the country’s second-biggest political party and the third-generation patriarch of the Bakrie family empire, can’t buy…