For the last two days a volcano in Iceland has been spewing ash and rock high into the atmosphere with little indication that it is going to stop any time soon.

The danger that the ash presents to aircraft (the particles are so fine and sharp they can destroy a jet engine) combined with the prevailing jet stream has meant that essentially then entire European air space has been shutdown. This has left hundreds of thousands of people stranded across Europe and further afield.

This has caught the governments of Europe and around the world on the hop. It's going to take a few days for governments to put into place plans to even start bringing people home. However the people aren't waiting for that long. Instead they've taken the tools they have in hand (twitter and co) and are starting to create their own movements to go home. 

One of the hashtags people are using to start organising themselves is the #getmehome. Below is just a small sample of the type of calls for help people are making.

• parents are stuck in New York.. need to get to Heathrow.. #getmehome #ashtag
  
  
  
• People in Oslo, Norway! I have friends who need to get back to the UK. 1 of them is scheduled for operation this Tuesday!#getmehome #ashtag
  
  
  
• Ash has trapped my dad in Abuja, Nigeria. Any tips on how to get him back into Europe? #ashtag #getmehome

And they're getting answered. Others on the twitters are taking the time to organise cab share, bus trips, offer advice based on their knowledge of the transport situation in their region.

By the time that the Governments do get round to organising things, they might just find that the people have already started without them.