Anak Krakatau (Son of Krakatau) caused a tsunami Saturday in the Sunda Strait of Indonesia. Indonesia tsunami: 62 dead and ‘many missing’ after Anak Krakatoa erupts – latest updates. Actually the Guardian only got the name right some of the time. One of the photo credits is correct, while most of the text is wrong. (Reuters actually got the name right, but their article is not as up-to-date as the Guardian.)
When the island/volcano started erupting in July of this year, I could only find a single English-language news item that got the name right. So some things have improved.
The link at the top is to a continually-updating article/timeline. I don’t find those to be very readable, but in a situation that is developing, it is the best one can hope for.
We have some more insight into the causes of the volcano from Gegar Prasetya, co-founder of the Tsunami Research Center Indonesia, via Associated Press.
He says the waves were most likely caused by a collapse of part of the slope of Mount Anak Krakatoa during an eruption. He says it’s possible for an eruption to trigger a landslide above ground or beneath the ocean, both capable of producing a tsunami, noting that the wave itself was not that high – only around 1m.
Because island dwellers to concentrate near the shore, 1 mete is plenty high.
As I noted in July, there is a (bad?) movie about the 1883 eruption that destroyed Krakatau. Hence, Son of Krakatau that has grown up in the same spot.
On 27 August [1883] a series of four huge explosions almost entirely destroyed the island. The explosions were so violent that they were heard 3,110 km (1,930 mi) away in Perth, Western Australia, and the island of Rodrigues near Mauritius, 4,800 km (3,000 mi) away.[4] The pressure wave from the final explosion was recorded on barographs around the world. Several barographs recorded the wave seven times over the course of five days: four times with the wave travelling away from the volcano to its antipodal point, and three times travelling back to the volcano.[21]:63 Hence, the wave rounded the globe three and a half times. Ash was propelled to a height of 80 km (50 mi). The sound of the eruption was so loud it was reported that if anyone was within ten miles (16 km), they would have gone deaf.
There are photos of the aftermath, and even some video. There is video that was being recorded at a live concert which shows how there was no warning.
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