Lapindo dikes can collapse anytime
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:Agency - The Jakarta Post , Jakarta
| Tue, 03/10/2009 12:05 PM | National Government-backed Sidoarjo Mud Mitigation Agency said Tuesday that dike structures containing the giant mudflow pond in Sidoarjo, East Java were feared to collapse after a part of the inner circle dikes gave away last week. Ahmad Zulkarnain, the agency spokesman, said that Bakrie family-controlled PT Minarak Lapindo Jaya, which responsible for the dikes, has yet to rebuild the collapsed dike. “It has been nine days, but Minarak stopped its material supply,” he said, as quoted by tempointeraktif.com. The news portal reported that mudflow overflew eastward and filled Glagah Arum full. Having no more space in the pond the mud flowed back westward and hit and collapse another dike. “We cannot do anything. Inner circle dikes are under Minarak's authority,” said Ahmad. The mudflow disaster, which engulfed four villages and hundreds of hectares of farmland, displacing around 13,000 families from their homes, was fed by hot mud that began spewing from Lapindo’s gas exploration site on May 29, 2006. (dre) |