SUKIRAN was jolted from a deep sleep by a load roar. Before he could think, he heard rocks crashing down on the roof of his house in Puncu village on the slope of Mount Kelud in Kediri, East Java. Torrential rains gushed through the gaping hole in his ceiling.

Despite the lightning and rumble, Sukiran, 90, did not immediately respond to the danger. He and his wife, Poirah, began to move only after seeing their neighbors running for shelter. The