Charity for Merapi

Merapi erupted around late October in 2010. Merapi is  one of the most active volcano in Java island, Indonesia. It is located between two cities, Magelang and Yogyakarta. Yogyakarta is one of the city that located nearer the active volcano. One of the place that suffered from the eruption is Bulaksumur area where students of Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) mostly lived. The thick volcanic dust covered all over the place, even the learning process was stopped for certain time as the campus’s policy.

Street covered by volcanic dust

Limited sight distance for vehicles

The cold lava flood river

Some of UGM’s student volunteered as social helper to help Merapi’s victims. Some of them helped the Merapi’s evacuation process and stayed in campus to help the victim in Gelanggang because it is one of the evacuation post in Yogyakarta. Some student also searching and collecting clothes, blankets, medicines, and foods for victims.

Other student preferred leaving the city and going back home for some safety reason. One of them is Agita Yuniar. She is English literature student from faculty of cultural science in UGM who choose going back to her hometown in Tasikmalaya, West Java. “My parent called me to come home because they afraid I will have some serious illness if I affected by volcanic dust as they know that I suffered from light asthma before,” she said.

Although she seemed running away from this critical situation but she didn’t just stay quiet and decided to arrange  charity event with her online community. She said that her online community which is consist of Japanese’s manga and anime lover decide to collect some money. The money came from the member who willing to help and then given it directly to the victim in some villages in Magelang.

She felt satisfied because she could helped the victim even she is not participated directly in the field. This is one of the example that charity can be done in any ways. It depends on one person’s willingness to help sincerely without any paid back because human are basically social beings who live to help each other in this world.


P.S: I took all the pictures by myself so I do mind about copyright. Ask first B^)