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N0KFQ > TODAY 27.08.10 16:32l 54 Lines 2436 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 15200_N0KFQ
Read: GUEST VE7HFY
Subj: Today in History - Aug 27
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Sent: 100827/1510Z @:N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA #:15200 [Branson] FBB7.00i $:15200_N
From: N0KFQ@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
To : TODAY@WW
Aug 27, 1883:
Krakatau explodes
The most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded history occurs
on Krakatau (also called Krakatoa), a small, uninhabited
volcanic island located west of Sumatra in Indonesia, on this
day in 1883. Heard 3,000 miles away, the explosions threw five
cubic miles of earth 50 miles into the air, created 120-foot
tsunamis and killed 36,000 people.
Krakatau exhibited its first stirrings in more than 200 years on
May 20, 1883. A German warship passing by reported a seven-mile
high cloud of ash and dust over Krakatau. For the next two
months, similar explosions would be witnessed by commercial
liners and natives on nearby Java and Sumatra. With little to no
idea of the impending catastrophe, the local inhabitants greeted
the volcanic activity with festive excitement.
On August 26 and August 27, excitement turned to horror as
Krakatau literally blew itself apart, setting off a chain of
natural disasters that would be felt around the world for years
to come. An enormous blast on the afternoon of August 26
destroyed the northern two-thirds of the island; as it plunged
into the Sunda Strait, between the Java Sea and Indian Ocean,
the gushing mountain generated a series of pyroclastic flows
(fast-moving fluid bodies of molten gas, ash and rock) and
monstrous tsunamis that swept over nearby coastlines. Four more
eruptions beginning at 5:30 a.m. the following day proved
cataclysmic. The explosions could be heard as far as 3,000 miles
away, and ash was propelled to a height of 50 miles. Fine dust
from the explosion drifted around the earth, causing spectacular
sunsets and forming an atmospheric veil that lowered
temperatures worldwide by several degrees.
Of the estimated 36,000 deaths resulting from the eruption, at
least 31,000 were caused by the tsunamis created when much of
the island fell into the water. The greatest of these waves
measured 120 feet high, and washed over nearby islands,
stripping away vegetation and carrying people out to sea.
Another 4,500 people were scorched to death from the pyroclastic
flows that rolled over the sea, stretching as far as 40 miles,
according to some sources.
In addition to Krakatau, which is still active, Indonesia has
another 130 active volcanoes, the most of any country in the
world.
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