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Lapindo Mud Volcano Set to Erupt for Quarter-Century
PARIS – A mud volcano that has displaced more than 13,000 Indonesian families will erupt for at least a quarter of century, emitting belches of flammable gas through a deepening lake of sludge, scientists reported on Thursday. Underground pressure means the volcano “Lusi,” in Sidoarjo, East Java, is likely to gush grey mud until 2037,…
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Mudflow Villagers Won’t Budge Without More Cash
SURABAYA–Residents of three villages in Jabon subdistrict in Sidoarjo, East Java, have refused to leave their homes as part of a government plan to use the area as a reservoir for mud from the Lapindo mud volcano. Under an earlier agreement, residents of Pejarakan, Besuki, and Kedungcungkring villages were to leave after receiving 20 percent…
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8 of the Most Toxic Energy Projects on the Planet
BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico served as a wake-up call for many of us who never before paid attention to the destructive energy projects happening all around the world. But while Deepwater Horizon may have attracted the lion’s share of media attention this past Spring and Summer, there are a number…
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State Capture: How Bakrie Group Dodges The Bullet Again
Jakarta – It is becoming a disturbing regularity that every now and then when we look at our country’s economic situation, we face another potential scandal linked to business tycoon Aburizal Bakrie. The latest one emerged recently after an assessment by the central bank (Bank IndonesiaI) into Bank Capital’s finances found that almost Rp 7…
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Children Deprived of Right to Education
Jakarta – Zulfika Rochmah stood shyly in front of the crowd, trying to explain why school was so important to her. “I want to be a doctor someday so I can make my friends well again. They have trouble breathing now since the mud,” said the skinny 10-year-old from Sidoarjo, East Java. “A lot of…
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After 4 Years of Mud, Sidoarjo Blame Question Lingers
JAKARTA – Green groups blasted the government on Friday for failing to seriously consider and take action on the lives ruined as a result of Lusi, the gigantic mud volcano which continues to spew toxic sludge in Sidoarjo, East Java, four years after it erupted. The disaster has inundated hundreds of hectares of land, leaving…
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Empowering Children Community in Porong
A. LULUK WIDYAWAN – The onset of mudflow disaster was at 10.00 p.m., West Indonesian Time, on 29 May 2006. It was initiated by leakage of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas in the area of gas exploration rig in Banjar Panji 01, managed by Lapindo Brantas Inc. (Lapindo) in Renokenongo Village. The seepage was first characterized…
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SBY and Mudlake Tourism
SUBAGYO. Recently the public was set abuzz upon suggestion to transform a giant mudlake into a geological tourism destination by Indonesian president Soesilo Bambang Yudhoyono following his visit to the Lapindo mudflow area in Porong, Sidoarjo district, East Java.
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A Crippled Economy That Won’t Easily Recover
Take a look at these figures: Rp 33.2 trillion (AUD$4.03 billion), Rp 27.4 trillion (AUD$3.33 billion), and Rp 32.8 trillion (AUD$3.99 billion). Extraordinary, aren’t they? These figures aren’t the amounts lost by investors in the recent world stock-market crash. These are estimates of the economic losses resulting from the Lapindo hot mudflow disaster at Sidoarjo.
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Muddying the Truth: A New Documentary Looks at Sidoarjo
…while the makers of “Mud Max” said the film was made to offer viewers the facts with which to make their own assessments, not everyone believes the documentary is balanced and some have accused the creators of using funding from Lapindo. In the time it takes you to read this sentence, the unending mudflow in…
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Scientists: Human Error to Blame for Indonesia’s Mud Volcano
PARIS – Scientists Friday unveiled fresh evidence that gas drillers were to blame for unleashing a mud volcano in Indonesia’s East Java that claimed 14 lives and displaced tens of thousands of people. In a paper published by the journal Marine and Petroleum Geology, a group led by experts from Britain’s Durham University said the…
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Strongest Evidence to Date Links Exploration Well to Lusi Mud Volcano
BERKELEY — New data provide the strongest evidence to date that the world’s biggest mud volcano, which killed 13 people in 2006 and so far has displaced 30,000 people in East Java, Indonesia, was not caused by an earthquake, according to an international scientific team that includes researchers from Durham University and the University of…
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Rights Body Intensifies Mudflow Probe
JAKARTA – The National Commission on Human Rights has deepened its investigation to find out whether gross human rights violations were committed against the thousands of people living in a 90-hectare area in Porong, Sidoarjo, East Java, by a company drilling for oil and gas there.
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Komnas HAM to Publish Lapindo Probe Results
JAKARTA – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) will announce the results of its final investigation on possible gross violations of human rights against thousands of mudflow victims in a 90-hectare area of Porong, Sidoarjo, East Java.
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Walhi Contends Corruption in Indonesian Mudflow Aftermath
JAKARTA – The Indonesian Forum for the Environment reported on Tuesday the possibility of corruption in the handling of the Sidoarjo mudflow disaster to the Corruption Eradication Commission.
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Compensation Call Renewed for Mudflow Victims
The National Commission on Human Rights has renewed its call for the government to compensate the thousands of people affected by the East Java mudflow disaster, which has claimed their land and livelihoods.
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Rights Body: Govt Ignores Recommendations on Lapindo Mudflow
Jakarta (ANTARA News) – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) said on Wednesday the government has ignored its recommendations to restore the rights of Lapindo Brantas mudflow victims in Sidoarjo, East Java.
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Geologists Warn of Expanding Danger Zone
Sidoarjo, The Jakarta Post–The zone under threat from hot mud bubbling from the ground in the Porong area of Sidoarjo, East Java, is expanding further, as geologists warn land subsidence will continue at a massive rate there.
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Distressed Mudflow Children Send Letters to The Moon
Batu, The Jakarta Post – People have their own ways of expressing what they feel. Fifty children displaced by the Lapindo mudflow disaster in Sidoarjo did so by writing letters to the moon in an event held in Batu city earlier this month.
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Indonesia’s Muddy Justice
{youtubejw}H0USZ0nX3Pk{/youtubejw} aljazeera – Walking across the hardened mud, Sodikun points out where a mosque and a nearby kindergarten once stood. “This was the road to the kindergarten,” he says. “It was the main road, it was seven metres wide.”