The eruption also stopped Indonesians flying out to jobs in Hong Kong

Between 150 and 200 Indonesian domestic workers due to start jobs in Hong Kong were still waiting in Indonesia this week, the South China Morning Post reports, after ash from Anak Krakatau closed eight airports on Saturday and disrupted almost 3,000 flights. Soekarno-Hatta reopened on Tuesday and some of the group were expected to fly on Wednesday.

A few days of delay sounds minor until you see how the job pipeline works. Each worker is matched to a specific employer, with a contract and a departure date that the household on the other end has already planned around. When the flight goes, so does the schedule for everyone. Agencies have started sending some workers out through Surabaya instead, far enough east that the ash never reached it, which is a workable answer for a weekend and an expensive one if it becomes the routine.

The industry's worry is not this eruption, it is the next one. Cheung Kit-man, who chairs the Hong Kong Employment Agencies Association, put it plainly: "Of course we are worried, because it is a natural phenomenon and [the volcano] can erupt at any time." His association says it has contingency plans ready if the airports close again. That is the quiet part of this story: an eruption in the Sunda Strait has turned into a scheduling problem in Hong Kong living rooms.

Why it matters

If you or someone in your family is due to leave for work abroad in the coming weeks, ask the agency now whether your departure can be shifted to Surabaya, and get the answer before the next closure rather than during it. A late departure usually means a late first pay day, and the money that was already counted on at home arrives a month behind. The agencies are planning for repeat closures rather than treating this one as over, and anyone with a departure booked out of Jakarta should do the same.