Residents reluctant to move over Indonesia mudflow

By Heri Retnowati

SIDOARJO, Indonesia (Reuters) - Villagers in Indonesia's East Java province prepared to fight a resettlement order on Friday despite the advance of a giant mudflow that has already submerged four settlements and may inundate four more. 

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has ordered the relocation of over 15,000 residents within 400 hectares of a gas exploration well from which the torrent of mud has been flowing in the Sidoarjo region since late May. 

"We can accept if that relocation is temporary. But residents want to return to their homeland when the mud stops spurting. So, we say no to permanent relocation," said Muslim cleric Maksum Zubair, a community leader from the submerged Jatirejo village. 

Only the rooftops of Zubair's house and his large boarding school could be seen popping out from the vast pool of sludge. 

More than 10,000 people have so far been displaced by the mud, which is gushing at a rate of 50,000 cubic metres a day from the well. 

They, and many in villages now at risk behind hastily built dykes, fear permanent resettlement may kill their communal roots. 

But Basuki Hadimuljono, who heads the special government team handling the disaster, told Reuters that local residents should consider the danger of continuing to live in the area. 

"The cracks are apparent even in areas that are not submerged," he said. "What will happen if the land collapses?" 

NATURAL PHENOMENON? 

Several experts have said the mudflow could have been triggered by a crack about 6,000 feet deep inside the well operated by PT Lapindo Brantas Inc. 

The firm, which is controlled by listed firm PT Energi Mega Persada, has denied the mud is directly linked to the drilling operation. 

Indeed, some scientists have said the flow might be a natural phenomenon that could be impossible to stop, leaving scant chance for residents to ever return to their homes. 

Since the presidential announcement, officials have been looking into resettlement options. 

These include send the residents, whose villages are only 30 minutes from the country's second-largest city, Surabaya, to sparsely populated areas outside Indonesia's main island of Java, where Surabaya is situated. 

The continuing crisis has forced Jakarta to back a plan to dump the mud without treatment into a nearby river, overriding an earlier option of first removing water from the mud, treating it, and then allowing it to flow into the sea through a pipeline. 

The plan will go into full swing next week despite concerns it could pollute the water ecosystem, a source of income for millions on Java's eastern coast. 

The president said the 400 hectares of land was uninhabitable, but Zubair still dreams he could return to his home in two years. 

"The government and Lapindo need to be optimistic they could stop the flow, not pessimistic as they are now," the elder said.