Gunung Semeru Spews Out Ash: East Java, Indonesia

Gunung Semeru in East Java is the latest volcano to spring to life spewing out hot ash in fierce storms from its caldera.

The weekend's fall was the heaviest, covering the roofs of houses with a one-millimetre thick layer of soft grey ash. The volcanic dust could also be seen covering the windshields of passing cars. In the Greater Malang area which covers Malang city, Malang regency and Batu in East Java, has been covered by ash falls over the last five days after a series of big storms around the crater of the increasingly active Gunung Semeru.

Apparently it affected motorcyclists and particularly those not wearing full-face helmets forcing many to squint against the falling ash. The head of the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park, said that despite the ash rain it is still normal as it does not threaten people's safety. It seems this is just Gunung Semeru's routine activity.

Due to the limited availability of masks, they will only be distributed to the heavily affected areas free of charge and advised residents in other areas to purchase masks for themselves.

With all this increasing activity around the island of Java it certainly makes one wonder when the 'big blow' is going to happen and cause island-wide devastation. It can happen. Java's backbone is a series of volcanic mountain ranges and it would only take several of these to erupt almost simultaneously to cause a dire consequences.