When the volcano erupted in 2006 in Sidarojo province, there were 10,000 destroyed homes and more than 75,000 displaced people. Now at least 10,000 people are still living in camps, sharing a few bathrooms and the delivering of clean water and food stopped many weeks ago. The government built levees of 18 meters to contain the mud, other plans like plugging the hole with cement balls are still in the sheets. There is a decree which states that the affected families will by paid the amount of  u$s9,000 in early 2009 and those who co-own houses and farms, will be paid u$s2670 per month, according to the seven-year programme propossed by the gas company, Lapindo Brantas.

People now work as touristic guides and some of them had an increase in their income.

The company, Lapindo Brantas, agreed to pay compensation to locals without accepting liability for the mudflow and according to them the eruption was caused by an earthquake occured 250 km away, and that it was not a drilling accident.The company has received several comments of disagreement proceeding from specialists and injured people.

Now the displaced people are working as everything they can, one new job refers to tourism, other sells DVD footage of the ongoing disaster, and some people started to earn more money, but these are not steady jobs. The situation is kind of tense, because maybe tomorrow people will have no money for eating, and this is an increasing problem due to the fact that competition is turning things in a bad way.

One good news was that on 21 December, the government announced it was prepared to set aside RP82 billion ($7.5 million) from the 2009 budget to help four additional villages affected by the mudflow.

One of the most important problem is that the sinking mud is producing gas leaks and  this threats people who lives in defective houses. In some villages, there are houses with cracks and if someone make a mistake, the entire house could start to burst. So people are taking extreme cautions on the theme.

Ahmad Zulkarnaen,spokesman for the Disaster Respose Agency said the focus was no longer on stopping the flow after numerous attempts. Instead, the agency, which is using government funds to rebuild infrastructure and maintain the dam walls containing the disaster site, is focusing on shipping the mud out to sea via the Porong River. The worst thing is that polluting the river and affect sea life and human life sounds as the best way to solve this problem.