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Geologists Blame Gas Drilling for Indonesia Mud Disaster
A meeting of leading geologists has concluded that an Indonesian mud volcano which erupted in May 2006, triggering a social and environmental disaster, was caused by nearby drilling for gas, a British university said on Thursday. The volcano, named Lusi, has swamped 12 villages and displaced around 30,000 people and continues to spew boiling mud…
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ANTARA – Kaukus DPR Desak Pemerintah Selesaikan Masalah Lapindo
Jakarta (ANTARA News) – Sejumlah anggota DPR yang tergabung dalam Kaukus Anggota DPR dari Dapil Jawa Timur I ( Surabaya dan Sidoarjo) mendesak pemerintah agar empat desa yang belum masuk dalam peta terdampak lumpur Lapindo segera masuk dalam anggaran APBN 2009. Salah seorang juru bicara kaukus itu, Suripto, kepada pers di ruang wartawan DPR Jakarta,…
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ANTARA – Semburan Lumpur Sidoarjo Diperkirakan Berlangsung 140 Tahunasus Lapindo Butuh Advokasi Internasional
Jakarta (ANTARA News) – Semburan lumpur panas di Sidoarjo diprediksi sebagai proses pembentukan gunung lumpur (mud volcano) yang bisa berlangsung hingga 140 tahun. "Lumpur Sidoarjo akan menjadi ‘natural event’ yang bisa berlangsung 6-140 tahun, namun perkiraan yang baik adalah 32 tahun," jelas Prof. Richard Swarbrick dari Geopressure Technology Ltd Science Labs, Durham, Inggris, saat berbicara…
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Lapindo Belum Bayar Uang Muka Korban Lumpur
Sidoarjo (ANTARA News) – Warga korban luapan lumpur Lapindo Brantas Inc. baik yang mendukung program pembayaran ganti rugi dengan cash and carry maupun cash and resettlement kini makin resah, karena hingga kini belum mendapat transfer pencairan dana 20 persen uang muka. Sebelumnya, warga korban lumpur yang mengungsi di Pasar Porong Baru (PPB) juga resah, karena…
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Safety Sought From Sidoarjo Mudflow Agency
The Sidoarjo regency administration is seeking a guarantee of safety from the government-backed Sidoarjo Mudflow Handling Agency (BPLS) that the dumping of hot mud into the River Porong will not trigger floods. Since October, 2006, BPLS has redirected 69 million cubic meters of hot mud into the river, triggering sedimentation that could lead to floods…
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Mud Victims Spooked by Own Ghost Towns
Hundreds of houses in three villages were inundated with mud in Sidoardjo in February, and thousands of people were displaced from their homes, forcing them to live in makeshift tents erected along an abandoned toll road. While the sturdier structures in the three villages — Besuki, Kedung Cangkring and Renokenongo — were left inundated with…
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Victims Refuse to Sell Muddy Land to Lapindo
Some 69 families in the East Java villages of Jatirejo, Siring and Renokenongo are standing their ground, refusing to sell their land as part of the compensation plan proposed by the energy company being held responsible for the mudflow disaster. “If we accept the proposal the company is offering, it will amount to turning our…
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Mudflow Families Celebrate Idul Fitri in Makeshift Huts
For Supardi, the recent Idul Fitri celebrations were vastly different to previous years as his village struggled to rebuild after a devastating mudflow struck in February this year. As neighborhood head of Besuki village, Supardi and his fellow villagers celebrated Idul Fitri in emergency tents and makeshift houses after their homes and farmland were destroyed…
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Indonesia’s One-Man Wrecking Crew
Friday, 10 October 2008, written by Our Correspondent The Jakarta Stock Exchange remains closed after Bakrie Group companies are suspended from trading amid allegations of irregularities Indonesia’s billionaire Chief Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie, whose companies are already being held responsible for the biggest man-made environmental disaster in Indonesian history, is now in trouble for playing…
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Jakarta Post Editorial: The Burning Seat
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani has been sitting in the hot seat for some time now, and now her seat has now gone from hot to burning since businesspeople and politicians with vested interests have been making attempts to unseat her. We earnestly hope she will survive this saga. The imbroglio, we suspect, is related to…
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Pembuangan Lumpur Lapindo Ke Laut Tak Menyelesaikan Masalah
Usaha pemerintah tidak akan menyelesaikan masalah selama sumber lumpur tidak ditutup.