Indonesia's president has declared a part of East Java swamped by a mud spill a disaster zone...ordered that some 3,000 families be permanently relocated... [and] also ordered the Indonesian company [Lapindo Brantas (part of Energi Mega Persada)] responsible for drilling at a gas well near where the mud is flowing pay at least 1.5 trillion rupiah (US$164 million) to deal with the mess... More than 12,000 people have already been forced from their homes... Siti Maimunah, the national coordinator of Jatam, a watchdog of Indonesia's mining industry,...said contradictory reports about the toxicity of the mud needed to be clarified by the government.