Dispossessed by Indonesia’s ‘mud volcano’, villagers rebuild homes but lose community
- The disastrous ‘Lapindo Mudflow’ or ‘mud volcano’ forced thousands of people from their homes in May 2006 in Indonesia
- Uprooted once by calamity beyond their control, families are now divided by petty rivalries in the fight to gain legal ownership of their land
Disputes remain over the cause, as the eruption followed drilling by oil company Lapindo Brantas as well as an earthquake that devastated Yogyakarta and was later found to have geothermal underground links to Sidoarjo.
Yet the mass of mud and dangerous methane gas that erupted was unable to be stemmed, surging across an area of more than 650 hectares, submerging homes, factories, schools and religious sites.
It has not stopped since. Instead it has solidified into a 40-metre deep cake of mud, entombing villages underneath a mass hard enough to walk on. A containment wall holds the fresh, daily flow, which geologists fear may continue for decades.
Stark images of the thick mud have generated endless negative headlines for Indonesia over both its disaster management and the government’s apparent capitulation in the face of major corporate interests.
Most of us wanted to stick together as a village and start over. Some went their separate ways but most stayed to rebuild
Lilik Kaminah’s village was one of 16 claimed by the unstoppable torrent.
