Channel 4 to show two hour film about eruption of Krakatoa
Category : volcanoes, natural disasters, documentary
Channel 4 : Saturday 22 January 2005
KRAKATOA
As Asia struggles to come to terms with the terrible consequences of the tsunami of Boxing Day 2004, Channel 4 looks at the history, science and politics of the tsunami in three programmes this week. The first of is a two-hour film about the eruption of Krakatoa. 121 years ago, this same geologically active zone was hit by the most devastating eruption in modern recorded history. This dramatised account tells the story of the eruption, and of the scientists who took the first tentative steps towards understanding the geological forces that caused it. A live edition of Dispatches and an Equinox special, both on the Asian Tsunami, follow on Monday.
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Krakatoa is one of the best-known volcanic eruptions in recorded history. What is less well known is that it is part of the same geological system that generated the tsunami of 2004. The 1883 explosion took place off the southern coast of Sumatra; the same island whose northern coast was devastated by the wave of 2004. People all over the globe were affected by the eruption's after-effects. It is also one of the best documented - from the first indications that something was amiss to the final explosion, each step was witnessed and recorded.
On the morning of August 27th 1883, Krakatoa stood over 6,000 feet high with a diameter of approximately ten miles. Later that day this giant cone exploded so violently it was completely blown away. A tragic series of events unfolded as the blast generated a tsunami that was twice as high as that of boxing day 2004. One ship was carried over two miles inland. Hail-sized stones fell over 100 miles away, and the city of Jakarta fell into total darkness.
Krakatoa lay in the heart of what geologists refer to as the Pacific Ring of Fire. This geologically unstable area produced the undersea earthquake that generated the tsunami of Boxing Day 2004. But in addition, over 30% of the worlds volcanoes are found in Indonesia - and in 1883 Krakatoa was one of the biggest. Although the Dutch were aware that the tropical paradise they had settled in contained active volcanoes, they had no way of predicting the tragedy that would unfold in May that year. The residents of Java and Sumatra were at first troubled by earth tremors in that month, but this was by no means uncommon in this part of the world, and they certainly would not have attributed them to the large, benign island in the Sunda Straits, remarkable for nothing but being a useful navigational point.
As the tremors increased and the first eruption occurred, people realised the true nature of Krakatoa - but even then could have had no way of predicting the final catastrophic explosion. The scientists of the time struggled to understand and explain the forces that were at work and their studies proved invaluable to modern scientists who hope to be able to improve our ability to predict these terrible events.