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JAKARTA : Hundreds of Indonesians displaced by the world's worst mud volcano disaster said prayers Thursday on a dyke overlooking the sea of sludge that swallowed their homes exactly two years ago.
The eruption on the Indonesian island of Java killed 13 people, displaced some 36,000 and inundated 12 villages -- and there are now signs the entire area may sink and become a huge crater.
A court has ruled the eruption in Sidoarjo district of east Java was a natural disaster but residents, researchers and human rights groups blame gas drilling in the area by a company belonging to the country's richest man.
Sasmito, a displaced resident who took part in the morning's solemn commemoration service, said villagers prayed not only for deliverance from further eruptions but also compensation from the government and the company.
"We prayed so that no other disaster befalls us. We also pray that all the problems we are facing from the mud flow will soon be overcome and settled," he said.
The volcano, dubbed "Lusi," began spurting its stinking, hot sludge over the densely populated farming area from an opening in the ground that suddenly appeared alongside the drilling well operated by Lapindo Brantas.
The oil and gas company is owned by the family of billionaire welfare minister Aburizal Bakrie.
Lapindo blamed an earlier earthquake but independent researchers say the volcano was almost certainly woken by the drilling.
The national human rights watchdog on Wednesday said its own investigation had concluded that the disaster amounted to a "serious human rights violation" and called on the government to punish those responsible.
So far no one has been charged with any wrongdoing and many of the displaced villages have received no compensation, or only a fraction of the amount promised by the company.
Meanwhile the methane-filled mud is continuing to ooze from the earth at a rate of about 60 Olympic swimming pools a day, and has already swamped 640 hectares (1,580 acres) of the Javanese countryside.
- AFP/ir
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