Krakatau Volcano Erupting - Indonesia

From: [link to hisz.rsoe.hu]


Small eruptions of Mt Anak Krakatau, the volcano in the Sunda Strait near Lampung province, till Wednesday were reported to have recorded a tremendous increase during the past few days, while the status of the volcano remained at the third level of alertness. At least 828 small eruptions were recorded to have happened on the volcano with 63 volcanic quakes, 434 tremors and 366 times of emission in the past six days, said Anto Prambudi, head of Mt Anak Krakatau Monitoring Post in Pasauran village, Serang district, Banten province, on Wednesday. According to him, in the past five days the volcanic quake of Mt Anak Krakatau showed a rise in its activity. In fact, the frequency of the quake and small eruptions took place in every three minutes interval.


At present, the condition of Mt Anak Krakatau is in a state of danger, as it spewed glowing lava like gravel with a temperature standing at 600 degree celcius. "Whover hit by the small molten lava will die," he said. Therefore, the center for volcanology and geological disaster mitigation (PVMBG) of the Energy and Mineral Resources Department in Bandung only issued a recommendation that in a radius of three kilometers from the point of eruption was declared as dangerous zone. The increasing eruption was marked with white smoke billowing from the mountain`s crater in a height of 800 meters to the north. The smoke could be clearly seen from Anyer and Carita beach which is only 42 km away from the volcano. In the meantime, Nurmanah (45), a visitor of Nusa Dua Hotel in Anyer beach said the white smoke billowing from the top of the mountain and reddish molten rocks from its crater could be clearly seen in the evening.


"We are lucky to get such technical guidance at the hotel to directly see the white smoke billowing as well as the spewing of molten rocks from the mountain," she said. In response to increasing seismic activity around Mt. Anak Krakatau, trekking and hiking activities have been banned in the area. The mountain, which experienced increasing seismic activity since April this year has been erupting on a daily basis. "We advise tourists, fishermen, to stay away from the mount`s three-kilometer radius area. It is unsafe for them to be in the area, as there are strong indications of increasing seismic activities including the emission of hazardous gas," said. In addition, the rising activity of Mt. Anak Krakatau was also reported to have attracted some Australian and European visitors, a tourist guide at Carita Beach resort in Pandeglang, Imam Faisal (35), said. "Tens of Australian and European tourists come here every day to observe the eruptions of Mount Anak Krakatau on Sunday.


Many of the foreign tourists took pictures of the eruptions as the happening was something of great interest in their respective countries," he said. "This is because Anak Krakatau is possibly the only volcano in the world that rises from the sea," he said adding that Anak Krakatau had become a legend as its eruption in 1883 killed 36,000 people. Officials at the Anak Krakatau Monitong Post in Pasauran village, Cinangka sub district, Serang district, said the volcano`s activity was on Friday marked by 182 eruptions coupled with 11 volcanic quakes, eight deep volcanic tremors, 54 shallow volcanic shocks, 44 tremors, and it also spewed smoke 29 times. But none of the phenomena posed a direct threat to human life. There were even 2-minute tectonic shocks but also not dangerous.

Budiman of the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center in Bandung, West Java, said the number of eruptions, volcanic shocks and tremors throughout Friday had declined compared to Thursday when there were 195 eruptions followed by 7 deep volcanic tremors, 49 shallow volcanic shocks and 18 tremors. All this meant that Anak Krakatau`s activity was still fluctuating each day. There were no major eruptions and volcanic shocks such as had happened in 1883. On Saturday, Anak Krakatau was still spewing molten rocks, hot clouds, and toxic gas, and had remained at the third level of alertness, Budiman said. He therefore urged visitors and fishermen to stay away from the foot of Anak Krakatau.



Learning a rising activity of MT Anak Krakatau, some coastal residents living close to Mount Anak Krakatau, off the Sunda Strait in Lampung, were reported to have evacuated to Bandarlampung for fear of imminent eruption of the volcano due to increased volcanic activity, despite the fact that its alert status remains at three. Sonhaji, 45, a resident of Bawang village, Punduh Pidada district in South Lampung, said he took his family to his relative`s house in Bandarlampung on April 18, as he was afraid that Mount Anak Krakatau would have a major eruption, as it has been producing small eruptions over the past week.

"The distance between our village and Anak Krakatau is more than three miles, but the sound of eruption that it produces is very loud, like the sound of a cannon in the middle of the sea," he said. "So far it has never emitted such loud blasts and we have been observing that it has often discharged molten lava," Sonhaji said adding that fishermen had been afraid of fishing around the volcano and the Sunda Strait over the past week. South Lampung district head Wendy Melfa said his office was coordinating with the Natural Disaster Mitigation Agency in anticipation of the possibility of an eruption. "The status of the volcano remains alert as of now, but we are helping people to evacuate because they are terrified. We have also informed islanders around the volcano not to panic," Wendy said.


The best-known eruption of Krakatau culminated in a series of massive explosions on August 26-27, 1883, which was among the most violent volcanic events in modern and recorded history. With a volcanic explosivity index (VEI) of 6,[2] the eruption was equivalent to 200 megatons (MT) of TNT about 13,000 times the nuclear yield of the Little Boy bomb (13 to 16 kT) that devastated Hiroshima, Japan during World War II and four times the yield of the Tsar Bomba (50 MT), the largest nuclear device ever detonated.)