Malang's Mount Kelud in Kediri erupted late last Thursday night leaving six elderly villagers dead and affecting towns from Surabaya to Jakarta.
Photo of grounded plane in Yogyakarta courtesy of Tempo Business
Even Jokowi's home in Solo, Central Java, was showered with ash.
Initially Malang itself was free from ash while as far away as Yogya was blanketed, but it has now spread to Jakarta and even West Nusa Tenggara, shutting down flights and halting football and basketball games across East Java.
Malang's Super League football team Arema FC, was trapped in Jakarta over the weekend until flights resumed.
Flights were cancelled to Surabaya, Malang, Yogyakarta, Solo, Bandung, Bali, and Semarang, but these airports will begin operating again over the next two days.
The entire Malang district is currently covered in a layer of soft volcanic ash that is easily breathed into the lungs forcing residents to wear face masks until the poisonous dust disperses.
Health Minister Nafsiah Mboi said the Mt Kelud ash is thicker than that of Mt Merapi and residents should wear masks to avoid inhaling the ash.
Indonesian news media have reported scientists are examining the different elemental and chemical composition of Kelud ash compared with that of Merapi.
Mt Merapi ash is said to be more coarse and granular as opposed to the softer and lighter Kelud ash that becomes dangerously slippery when wet.
Road users were warned to be careful driving on the ash after rain.
Mount Kelud is located in Ngantung, Kediri, still Malang district but about halfway between Malang and Surabaya.
This year has already been challenging for Indonesia, which suffers environmental disasters par course, with massive floods around Jakarta, ongoing forest fires in Riau, as well as the eruption of Mount Sinabung in Northern Sumatera.
Because of the experiences of Mt Sinabung, Head of Regional Disaster Management Gatot Saptadi, quickly alerted people on Friday not to use water straight away to wash the ash off their houses.
Sinabung residents had poured water over the ash to wash it away and their roofs ended up collapsing as the ash thickened and became heavier when mixed with the water.
He advised residents to start from their roofs, remove, and collect the ash in plastic bags and then use water to clean the rest off.
Another lesson learnt from Sinabung is that the 10km radius danger zone should remain in force due to the possibility of hot pyroclastic cloud emissions which killed 17 in Sinabung after they thought it was safe to return.
Yesterday President Yudhoyono cancelled his meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry, in order to visit Mt Kelud victims in temporary housing in Kediri, Blitar, and Malang. Two hundred and ten thousand were evacuated from Mt Kelud.
Yudhoyono and his entourage had to take a 12 hour train ride to reach Malang and from there by car to Kediri to visit the camp sites which houses 75 000 refugees.
Victims of the disaster need basic supplies such as blankets and pillows as they wait to return and take stock of the damage.
Lauren is a freelance writer and postgraduate Human Rights student.
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