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Residents in a number of East Java villages who claim to have been affected by the Sidoarjo mudflow disaster have been told their only hope is a presidential regulation.

Djoko Kirmanto, head of the Sidoarjo Mudflow Mitigation Agency (BPLS)’s steering committee, said on Tuesday that the East Java government had formed a team of experts to determine whether areas outside the already recognized affected areas should also be included.

“We need to wait for those results if we want to make any changes. Depending on the results, the East Java governor may issue new policies,” he said.

Last month, residents of West Siring, Mindi, East Besuki, West Jatirejo and Gempolsari villages met with Presidential Advisory Council member Jimly Asshidiqie to request compensation.

The mud volcano has continued to spew millions of liters of mud daily since the initial explosion on May 26, 2006.

The explosion occurred near a gas exploration well drilled by PT Lapindo Brantas, owned by the family of business tycoon and Golkar Party leader Aburizal Bakrie.

The mud has inundated hundreds of hectares of residential, industrial and agricultural areas in Sidoarjo, leaving thousands of people homeless.

“Any changes to the list of affected areas should be made through a presidential regulation, because all of the initial areas were done that way,” said Djoko, also the public works minister.

In the first presidential regulation, issued in 2007, five villages — Renokenongo, Siring, Jatirejo, Kedung Bendo and Glagah Arum — were labeled affected areas, making residents eligible for compensation from Lapindo.

The impacts of the mudflow, however, spread to other areas, prompting another presidential regulation in 2008 to list more villages — Penjarakan, Kedungcangkring and Besuki.

In the latest revision in 2009, several areas of West Siring, Jatirejo and Mindi villages were also listed.

Amien Widodo, a geologist at Surabaya’s Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS) and a member of the team of experts, said it would take a long time to verify the results, considering the number of villages in question.

“We are examining a few factors before we decide which villages should receive any compensation, starting from land subsidence levels, eruptions occurring near villages, cracks in houses and people’s social and psychological state,” Amien said.  

In another development, Achmad Zulkarnain, a spokesman at the BPLS, said the mud volcano was not spewing petroleum, but hydrocarbon, with the mud.

“We already had it tested and they published their findings in mid-May 2009,” Achmad said.

Gas bubbles and mud began oozing out of cracks in the Porong highway near Sidoarjo last month, prompting concerns about possible explosions.

The latest fissure has spewed mud and flammable gas, and its proximity to railway tracks has caused safety concerns.