Eruption of Krakatoa commemorated

Press, 31 August 1983, Page 18

Eruption of Krakatoa commemorated

NZPA-Reuter Anak Krakatau, Indonesia The biggest explosion in recorded history, at least 25,000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb that devastated Hiroshima, was unable to destroy the Krakatoa volcano between Indonesia’s two main islands of Java and Sumatra 100 years ago. To commemorate the centenary of the eruption, hundreds of people recently gathered at Carita Beach, where the Governor of West Java, Aang Kunaefi, dedicated a memorial stone to the dead and mass prayers were held.

Carita Beach, the nearest point on Java to Krakatoa, means “Beach of the Stories,” so named because of gruesome accounts of the thousands of bodies left behind by the tidal waves. The terrible eruption that blew up most of the original Krakatoa Island caused huge tidal waves which killed 36,000 people and wiped out whole towns and villages along the coast.

The water level rose perceptibly in the English Channel and the blast was heard as far away as Sri Lanka and Perth, Australia. It tossed high into the atmosphere 18 cu km of debris that fell as a layer of dust over at least 800,000 sq km and caused spectacular sunsets around the world for six months, according to eyewitness accounts at the time.

When Krakatoa blew it-

self apart, the volcano and its three craters appeared to have vanished for ever beneath the ocean.

However, four decades later, under pressure from deep under the Earth’s crust, it came back to life and in 1928 a new volcanic island rose from the sea in almost exactly the same place.

Anak Krakatau, or “Child of Krakatoa,” now forms a growing slagheap of cinders, pumice and volcanic dust; a barren moonscape surrounded by the clear blue waters of the Sunda Strait.

It is still dwarfed by the only part of the original Krakatoa to have survived the eruption of August 27, 1883, a 720 m cliff that once formed part of the rim of the southernmost crater.

The active cone, which did not emerge from the sea until 1952, now stands 194 m

high. Plumes of acrid white smoke are usually the only sign of activity in the crater, a gruelling one-hour climb from the shore.

The sulphurous fumes stream sporadically from fissures in the pumice, which in places has an ominous hollow ring underfoot

Every few years, however, Anak Krakatau erupts in earnest, spitting fire and dust high into the sky above the west Java coast and drawing crowds of onlookers who wonder if the 1883 catastrophe could happen again.

Volcanologists say it could, but probably not for hundreds of years.

Krakatoa is on what they call a “point of high functional weakness” of the Earth’s crust, where the alpine Himalayan and Pacific volcanic zones meet.

Volcanoes go in cycles, the experts say, pointing out that the previous biggest eruption at Krakatoa was in 416 A.D.

Axel Ridder, a West German hotel manager at the nearby Java resort of Carita Beach, who has earned a reputation as a Krakatoa expert, says there is virtually no danger of another disaster.

“It is 99.99 per cent impossible that it will happen again, although this cannot be excluded,” he said. “Krakatoa is arguably the safest volcano in the world because it is far away, about 50km from human population.

“Even if there is a big ordinary eruption, it can do no harm at all. You just sit with your whisky on the beach and watch it,” Mr Ridder said.

Eruptions are a recurrent danger in Indonesia, which has 128 volcanoes officially classified as active, about 15 per cent of the world’s total. In June, 7000 people were moved from the small tropical island of Una-Una, in northern Sulawesi, just before Mount Colo erupted. It destroyed eight villages and most of the island’s plant and animal life.

Last year, 62 people were killed when Mount Galunggung in west Java erupted, covering large areas of farmland with a thick blanket of ash. Dust from the same volcano almost caused two Boeing 747 Jumbo jets to crash when it clogged their engines.

One of them, a British Airways plane with 155 passengers, dropped 7200 m after all four engines stopped. The pilot managed to restart them.

Volcanologists say the Krakatoa explosion was caused when the volcano collapsed on itself, but explanations differ on details. Some say several days of continuous eruptions which plunged an area 500 km in diameter into complete darkness left a huge void under the island which slowly caved in.

Millions of tonnes of seawater were then sucked in, causing huge explosions as the water struck the boiling rock and magma. Successive huge waves were generated, racing up to 25km inshore, according to this explanation.

The official death toll was recorded at 36,417.

No-one can say for certain what happened but to try to ensure that people have adequate warning of future eruptions, the Government has set up a national network of monitoring stations to listen for volcanic activity beneath the Earth’s crust.