Volcano Eruption !!

I was woken up by the beep of SMS I received at 5:40 AM on Valentine's Day. Despite all the love, I was pretty sure that my wife would not have woken up at 4 AM India time to send me a message...;). The message was from our ABV coordinator and it informed us about the Volcano eruption of Mt.Kelud, about 260 kms east of Yogyakarta but well within Java island. It is then I opened my window and was shocked to see that it was pitch dark !!...The street lights were still on and they were very hazy.

Ash rain under Flash photography

View from window 90 minutes after sunrise

In a place where the sun rises at 5:15 AM, this was quite a spectacle. I tried to take a pictures of the ash rain and the surroundings. Soon within the next hour, we received a couple of more SMSes from IBM Security and from ABV advising us to stay indoors and work from the hotel for the day. It was 6:30 AM and light was steadily creeping in to brighten up the area. It was then that I could see. It was like the scene from the movie "The Book of Eli". Ash covered everything one could see--rooftops, trees, cars, bikes, dish antennas, light poles...everything had at least a centimeter of two of ash cover. The sky was invisible and so was the sun. It was like one massive foggy day with visibility under 100 meters. The usual buzz of activity and traffic on the road was obviously absent.

Ash covered everything in sight

Ash laden Swimming Pool

If all this was created by a volcano which was well over 250 kms away within 6 hours of eruption, its hard to imagine how it would be in the danger zone- the area within 10 mile radius from the volcano. Truly despite man's best efforts, the power of nature is unfathomable.

Around 8 AM we received official communication from our clients saying that a holiday has been declared and that we should stay indoors.

Now we wait for the ash rain to end and the sky to clear.