Krakatau Mount, The Giant Under The Sea

Krakatau area place at Sunda Strait between Java Island and Sumatera, exactly at South Lampung, Sumatera Island. Consist of four islands, is Rakata, Sertung, Panjang dan Anak Krakatau. Rakata commonly called as Big Krakatau, and Panjang is called as Krakatau Kecil, small krakatau, anak krakatau.


Krakatau have a deep story, erupted repeatedly, massively, and with disastrous consequences throughout recorded history. The best known eruption culminated in a series of massive explosions on August 26-27 1883.


img src:www.uhh.hawaii.edu

The 1883 eruption ejected more than 25 cubic kilometres of rock, ash, and pumice, and generated the loudest sound historically reported: the cataclysmic explosion was distinctly heard as far away as Perth in Australia approx. 1,930 miles (3,110 km), and the island of Rodrigues near Mauritius approx. 3,000 miles (5,000 km). Near Krakatoa, according to official records, 165 villages and towns were destroyed and 132 seriously damaged, at least 36,417 (official toll) people died, and many thousands were injured by the eruption, mostly from the tsunamis which followed the explosion.


src: http://www.acrossindonesia.com/Java_Photo_Gallery.htm

The combined effects of pyroclastic flows, volcanic ashes and tsunamis had disastrous results in the region. There were no survivors from 3,000 people located at the island of Sebesi, about 13 km from Krakatoa. Pyroclastic flows killed around 1,000 people at Ketimbang on the coast of Sumatra some 40 km north from Krakatoa. The official death toll recorded by the Dutch authorities was 36,417 and many settlements were destroyed, including Teluk Betung and Ketimbang in Sumatra, and Sirik and Semarang in Java. The areas of Banten on Java and the Lampong on Sumatra were devastated. There are numerous documented reports of groups of human skeletons floating across the Indian Ocean on rafts of volcanic pumice and washing up on the east coast of Africa, up to a year after the eruption. Some land on Java was never repopulated; it reverted to jungle and is now the Ujung Kulon National Park.

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After eruption, mount Danan, Perbuatan and half of Rakata and Polish Island sweep out, and built some small island and caldera with 250 m in deep, and 7 km in diameter.

To go to krakatau we can trip from Tanjung Priuk port, Jakarta. We can also from Labuan Port,Banten. Or from canti Port, Kalianda, Lampung.