Krakatoa Volcano
The volcano is located between the Indonesian Islands of Java and Sumatra and lies a small group of islands, known as the Sunda Straight. There is the beautiful Carita Beach resort . Yet, the calm of Carita Beach stands in stark contrast to the tragic history of that small corner of the earth. The smoke that can be seen still rising from an island volcano not far from Carita beach gives a clue as to the nature of that history.
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Today, Krakatoa refers to four islands formerly known as the island of Rakata. Rakata grew immensely when two nearby volcanic cones pushed up nearby and gradually merged with Rakata to form the sleeping giant Krakatoa. In 1883, Rakata was an uninhabited volcanic island covered with lush green vegetation. On May, 20 1883, Krakatoa rumbled to life as it began to eject pumice, ash and clouds of smoke into the atmosphere. This volcanic activity continued. On August 26, Krakatoa started with minor explosions combined into one continual, ominous roar. A day later, Krakatoa was ready to explode, not once but four times! |
The blast has been estimated to have had the power of 100 megatons of TNT . That blast was heard over 4,800 kilometers away on the island of Rodrigues. The pressure waves in the atmosphere circled the earth seven and a half times before fading away. For two and a half days, the whole region was clouded in darkness.
And then there were the tsunamis. The Krakatoa explosions caused huge seismic waves, or tsunamis, which reached a height of 40 meters in the open seas. These tidal waves devastated many of the inhabited islands of Indonesia. The Javanese town of Merak was completely washed away by a tsunami that reached 135 feet in height. In that first day, some 37,000 people were killed by tsunamis.