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View all search resultsTwenty years on, Lapindo’s economic scars linger
According to the Sidoarjo Mudflow Control Center (PPLS), the agency received Rp 287.7 billion in state budget funding in 2025 to manage the disaster.
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River prayers: Victims of the Lapindo mud volcano tragedy lay flowers on a riverbank on May 29, 2025, to mark the 19th anniversary of the natural disaster in Porong, Sidoarjo regency, East Java. (AFP/Juni Kriswanto)
T
wo decades after the Lapindo mudflow disaster, many victims remain trapped in worsening economic conditions since the mudflow submerged villages in Sidoarjo, East Java.
“On average, their conditions have become worse and more pressured,” Imam Shofwan, head of community network at the Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam), told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday, referring to residents involved in the disaster, which now mostly working informal jobs such as parking attendants and small food vendors.
“When I talked to them, most of them told their stories while crying. In previous years, they were calmer when talking about their lives, but this year many of them could no longer hold back their emotions,” he said.
According to Imam, the economic losses suffered by residents went far beyond compensation mechanisms implemented by the government and the company.
Compensation largely focused on houses and rice fields, while broader social and economic losses remained unaccounted for, including damaged public facilities and long-term health problems linked to polluted air exposure, as well as administrative and economic difficulties after losing their villages.
“Their population records were erased from their original villages. If they did not take care of the process themselves, they could lose their identity documents, and as a consequence, they could also lose access to public services,” he said.
Jatam also criticized the continued use of state budget funds for handling the disaster, arguing that the financial burden should have been fully borne by the company if the incident had been officially recognized as a man-made disaster.
