Lapindo

At least 40,000 people have been displaced, losing their homes, farms, businesses, factories, schools and places of worship. Thirteen have died. The damage to the economy mounts daily; Surabaya is an industrial hub and the road and rail links to Malang are the main traffic arteries for East Java's 38 million people

A bridge on the toll road was demolished when it started to sink, and a new by-pass is slowly being built. In the meantime motorists pay motorcyclists to guide them through jalan tikus (rat roads) the maze of narrow potholed lanes that connect nearby villages and so avoid highway traffic jams.

The 80 kilometre journey between Malang and Surabaya can now take five hours or more.

But the real victims are the villagers who can see only a few terracotta tops to mark their once thriving communities. This time last year hundreds protested at the alleged lack of adequate compensation, though the government and company says it has paid out millions.

About 8,000 householders have been getting $US 1,500 monthly payments from the company from a $US 400 million fund, but these have been stop-start. Just ahead of the fifth anniversary of the blowout East Java Governor Soekarwo (one name only) said that PT Lapindo Brantas still owed victims about $US53 million.

The Australian company Santos, which held an 18 per cent stake in the project, set aside almost $AUD 80 million for liabilities, and in 2008 offloaded its stake for $AUD 24 million.

There's been no independent open audit of who is paying what, though the government seems to be footing the bill for repairs and infrastructure to contain the mud.

The government's imposed deadline for full settlement is the end of 2012

Compare these figures with the $US 40 billion that oil company BP set aside to deal with last year's oil blowout in the Gulf of Mexico

More demonstrations are likely as victims claim they still haven't been given full value of their homes and land. Even in areas not yet flooded residents have fled their homes and shops creating gouged streetscapes looking more like a war zone, the stench of gas adding to the image.

Indonesia's cumbersome and corrupt land tenure system, which doesn't provide clear freehold title, is also to blame for slow payouts as residents struggle to prove ownership.

However the government in Jakarta failing to declare a national state of emergency has aggravated the disaster. The Republic's lack of tough and enforceable environmental laws is also a handicap.