Friday, February 23, 2007

Misleading mudflow conclusion would cost the state sky high

Some of you might have read The Jakarta Post this morning. The paper quoted British volcanologist Richard Davies, a mud volcano specialist and professor at Durham University saying "the chance that the mud erupted because of the drilling activities is 90 percent. The chance of the mud volcano being triggered by earthquake in Yogyakarta was 1 to 2 percent, while the chance of both drilling & earthquake was 8 percent."

Davies is disputing government-sponsored conference's conclusion that the Sidoarjo mud disaster was caused by tectonic forces which would set Lapindo Brantas Inc & Bakrie Family free from responsibility on costs to handle the impacts.
The sky is the limit when it comes to costs for handling the disaster. President SBY deducted Lapindo's responsibility to Rp3.8 trillion through a decree issued in September. Now, these government scientists could even transfer the Rp3.8 trillion altogether with the additional Rp4 trillion cost that yet to be decided its source of fund and further costs/claims to our shoulder.
I think, the dispute on scientific explanation over the mudflow disaster should be settled first before the state scientists give any recommendation especially if it would cost the state & the people.

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1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Your last para is a key. Yes, it should be. The second step is, if there was any illegal action done by Lapindo triggered this then the police (or the court?) should make clear who are responsible for that.

Was that the operating people who break the rule or was it the management decision? This to decide whether the owners would have limited or strict liabilities. Should we chase them until they die?

The problem is the difficulties of the identification process. While the latter is easier, the former could become an everlasting debates amongst scientists.

February 25, 2007 5:25 AM  

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