Angry ‘Child of Krakatoa’ rumbles on

Jakarta, December 23 

The volcano that apparently triggered a deadly tsunami in Indonesia emerged from the sea around the legendary Krakatoa 90 years ago and has been on a high-level eruption watchlist for the past decade.

Anak Krakatoa (the “Child of Krakatoa”) has been particularly active since June, occasionally sending massive plumes of ash high into the sky and in October a tour boat was nearly hit by lava bombs from the erupting volcano.

Experts say Anak Krakatoa emerged around 1928 in the caldera of Krakatoa, a volcanic island that violently erupted in 1883. With subsequent lava flows it grew from a submarine setting to become a small volcanic island, with the cone now standing at an altitude of around 300 metres above sea level.

Since its birth, Anak Krakatoa has been in a “state of semi-continuous eruptive activity”, growing bigger as it experiences eruptions every two to three years, volcanology professor Ray Cas from Monash University in Australia said.

“Most of the eruptions are relatively small on the scale of explosive eruptions ... and there’s also eruptions that produce lava flows,” he added.

Cas said the latest event appeared to be “a relatively small explosive eruption” but could then have triggered or coincided with a submarine event like a landslide or earthquake, causing the deadly tsunami.

No one lives on the island, but the peak is popular with tourists and is a major study area for volcanologists.

When Krakatoa erupted on August 27, 1883, it shot a column of ash more than 20 km into the air in a series of powerful explosions that were heard in Australia and up to 4,500 km away near Mauritius.

The massive cloud of ash plunged the area into darkness for two days. The dust gave rise to spectacular sunsets and sunrises around the world the following year and disrupted weather patterns for years. The tsunami triggered by the eruption killed more than 36,000 people in one of the world’s worst natural disasters. Indonesia’s proximity to the junction of three continental plates, which jostle under immense pressure, makes it particularly vulnerable to earthquakes and eruptions.

The archipelago nation has nearly 130 active volcanoes, forming part of the Pacific “Ring of Fire” — an arc of intense seismic activity that stretches from quake-prone Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin. — AFP

Such disasters very common in Indonesia 

It has been a torrid year for the vast archipelago that sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire. Successive earthquakes flattened parts of the tourist island of Lombok in July and August, and a double quake-and-tsunami killed more than 2,000 people on Sulawesi island in September.

• 2004: A massive 9.1 magnitude quake on the western coast of Indonesia’s Aceh province in northern Sumatra on December 26 triggered a tsunami that struck 14 countries, killing 2,26,000 people along the Indian Ocean coastline, more than half of them in Aceh.
• 2005: A series of strong quakes hit the western coast of Sumatra in late March and early April. Hundreds died in Nias Island, off the coast of Sumatra.
• 2006: A 6.8 magnitude quake hit south of Java, Indonesia’s most populated island, triggering a tsunami that smashed into the southern coast, killing nearly 700 people.
• 2009: A 7.6 magnitude quake struck near the city of Padang, capital of West Sumatra province. More than 1,100 people were killed.
• 2010: A 7.5 magnitude quake hit one of the Mentawai islands, off Sumatra, triggering a tsunami of up to 10 metres that destroyed dozens of villages and killed around 300 people.
• 2016: A shallow quake hit the Pidie Jaya regency in Aceh, causing destruction and panic as people were reminded by the devastation of the deadly 2004 quake and tsunami. 
• 2018: Major quakes hit Indonesia’s tourist island of Lombok, killing more than 500 people, mostly on the northern side of the island.
• 2018: More than 2,000 people were killed by a powerful earthquake and tsunami that hit the city of Palu, on the west coast of Sulawesi island.

Deadliest volcanic  eruption happened in 1883: On August of 26th 1883 the tiny volcanic island of Krakatoa erupted creating one of the worst natural disasters in recorded history. It destroyed hundreds of towns and villages and left more than 36,000 people dead. Those who survive the eruption left tells the horrific stories.