Krakatoa: The volcano that made the loudest sound ever heard on Earth
Have you ever had the opportunity of watching the much-lauded Hollywood film Krakatoa, East of Java? Well, it’s unlikely that you have, considering this adventure drama was released in 1968. Nevertheless, this timeless movie is about a group of treasure seekers who set out in search of Krakatoa Island, ahead of a perilous volcanic eruption that would destroy the island and life on it forever. Why? Because there are sunken treasure and missing children out there. While we do not want to give away much of the story, we do want to tell you something weird. It is just that Krakatoa is not located to the east but the west of Java, Indonesia. But that isn’t all why Krakatoa is famous. In fact, it does have a volcanic history behind it. Let us explore that now.
The eruption of Krakatoa Volcano
As it turns out, Indonesia has the Sunda Strait located between two Indonesian islands: Java and Sumatra. Along the west of it lies the Krakatoa Volcano that is part of a larger volcanic group of islands. While Lang and Verlaten long disappeared, the third island got destroyed in 1883. Why? Because from 20th May to 21st October that year, one of the deadliest and most destructive volcanic events ever recorded in history took place. In fact, on 27th August, the eruption peaked and ruined 70 percent of the island and its surrounding archipelago that soon collapsed into a caldera. Around 20 million tonnes of sulphur were released.
While more than a lakh people lost their lives, millions were rendered homeless and jobless. The tectonic activity also influenced a series of tsunamis and earthquakes as the global atmospheric pressure became thrice and temperature dropped by 1.2 degrees Celsius for the next five years. Experts suggest that its effects were felt till the end of next year.
Years later in 1927, a fourth volcanic island named Anak Krakatoa or the “Child of Krakatoa” emerged from the caldera Krakatoa had formed. Interestingly, this was the epicentre of the deadly December 2018 tsunami.
Loudest noise ever heard on Earth
The entire Southeast Asia and parts of Oceania felt the impacts of the 1883 eruption. The explosion was so loud that it was heard 3110 kilometres away in Perth, Western Australia and 4800 kilometres away in Rodrigues, Mauritius. Maybe that’s why this sound is often regarded as the loudest ever heard on the face of Earth. To make you understand it adverse effect, we have a startling fact for you. Turns out, the noise of 1883 eruption of Krakatoa was more than 13000 times the sound of Little Boy nuclear bomb that had wrecked the Japanese city Hiroshima during the Second World War.
Decoding the name Krakatoa
There are many possible theories surrounding the name Krakatoa. For instance, Krakatoa most probably derived from the Sanskrit word for crab or lobster which is “karkata.” In fact, in Old Javanese, a similar word ‘rakata’ also means “crab.” However, what’s strange is that, the word was first mentioned in an Old Sudanese text Bujangga Manik around late 15th century. Here, Krakatoa is referred as “the island of Rakata, a crab-like mountain in the middle of the sea.” Another theory states that the name was inspired by the noise the native birds cockatoos made. Then there’s also an anecdote that says that when a ship mistakenly landed on this island and the captain had asked its name, a local had replied “kaga tau” or “I don’t know” in Jakartan. This led to the naming of Krakatoa. Funny, isn’t it?