On 27th August 1883 the uninhabited island of Krakatoa blew itself out of existence with an explosion the equivalent power of 150 million tons of TNT.
The eruption was so loud that the sound was heard over a twelfth of the Earth’s surface, the shock waves reverberated around the entire planet seven times.
This explosion also caused giant tsunami, the largest of them twice the height of those of the 2004 disaster.
These enormous waves wiped out 165 Indonesian towns and villages killing over 36,000 people.
Within hours news of the disaster was transmitted around the globe, and scientists of the time struggled to comprehend the geological forces that caused the tragedy.
Indonesia has so many volcanoes and earthquakes because of its geographical position.
The archipelago that starts in Northern Sumatra stretches over 3,000 miles south.
It has been created by the forces where two of the tectonic plates that make up the Earth’s surface meet.
The ocean floor of the Indo-Australian Plate and the Asian landmass of the Burma Plate are in collision. As they push against each other the heavier ocean floor is forced underneath the lighter continental rock. Krakatoa lies directly above this subduction zone.
