Gunung Kelud

Gunung Kelud (Kelud Mountain) is an active volcano 70 km from my village. 

This is a map of East Java. I live at "A," and Kelud is "B." 

The picture below is Kelud in 2007, a view of the inside of the crater (it's a lake).

2007, pre-eruption

But in 2007, the volcano started to erupt, and a lava dome (120 meters tall) grew up in the middle of the lake. It never spewed lava, however, it sorta "failed" as my friend said. Thus, the lake dried up and a little mountain formed in the middle, "Anak Kelud" (child of Kelud). I first knew about and visited Kelud in December 2013. This is what it looked like then:

December 2013

Fast forward to one week ago, when Peace Corps alerted us that Kelud was dangerous and we could not go near it. This was a picture my friend sent: 

February 2014

The pressure and heat continued and yesterday at 11 PM, the volcano erupted.  

February 13th, 2014

Because it is Anak Kelud that is erupting, the lava flow is contained inside the larger crater. Rocks were thrown into the air, however, and the ashfall is all over Java, blow west in the wind.

I was in Batu, Malang, 35 km from the volcano when it erupted. This is a picture of the villa ID6 was at, for our last PC conference:

Jambu Luwuk Villas where we were when Kelud erupted. February 13th, 2014

When I woke up this morning, this is what that same villa looked like:

February 14th, 2014

February 14th, 2014

It looks like a light dusting of snow on a cloudy day! The air was not bad, though PC gave us masks. We moved down into the town of Malang (45 minutes away), where there is no ash and the air is fine. I'll be out of my village until PC clears me to go back to site, which will likely be Sunday or Monday. I figure my village doesn't have much of anything going on, as no one posted anything super dramatic about it on Facebook and my school appeared to be in session. It was a similar cloudy day there, and I received texts like this: "Di sini hujan debu/abu Miss!" (There is ash/dust rain here!)

All in all, an interesting experience for those of us being safely watched by Peace Corps. Yet for those whose homes are full of dust and who are experiencing trouble breathing from the ash, not so awesome. Two Indonesians have died from the weight of ash on their houses. Thankfully, those are the only casualties so far.