Despite being a scene of destruction and heartache, there is a strange beauty in the new landscape created in the wake of the Sidoarjo mud disaster.

In October 2007 my partner, Jumaadi, and I travelled to Sidoarjo, East Java to celebrate the end of the fasting month with Jumaadi’s family. Located to the south of Surabaya and previously well known for producing some of the best krupuk (prawn crackers) in Indonesia, since May 2006 the name Sidoarjo has become synonymous with the mud disaster that began when a gas well, managed by the company PT Lapindo, exploded. Developments with the disaster management and the handling of displaced persons are a frequent topic of conversation in ‘Lumpur Lapindo’ (Muddy Lapindo), as Sidoarjo is now known locally. We were even served a cake jokingly called kue lapindo (lapindo cake), a round white sponge with a brown centre.

Early one morning we drove motorbikes to Porong, a town on the main road connecting Surabaya to Malang at the centre of the mud disaster. We rode all the way around the dam wall which has been constructed in an attempt to contain the hot water and mud flow.

Pak Asmadi

We visited Pak Asmadi, a retired railway employee whose home is located on the train line in Porong. Last time we visited in February 2007 he had been considering leaving the area. About two months after we were there the train tracks were covered in hot mud, temporarily disrupting the Malang-Surabaya service. However, after being offered compensation of only 20 per cent of the value of his home he has decided to stay put. The money on offer would not be enough to relocate elsewhere.

The displaced

The endless rows of empty houses in this abandoned housing estate hint at the huge number of displaced. Eerily quiet, the only sounds were the tapping of hammers as small teams of workers removed salvageable parts of the former homes. Bricks, woodwork and tiles were piled up on the side of the road ready for resale.