The Krakatoa Coincidence: The last time the volcano erupted was during the 1883 cholera pandemic, it's smoking again
While the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage on, conspiracy theories and bizarre coincidences that have popped up relating to the contagion have kept us intrigued through the bouts of boredom during self-isolation. The most uncanny of them popped up a few weeks ago, when a video clip of a Netflix Korean drama 'My Secret, Terrius' surfaced, in which the characters are seen talking about a respiratory virus called 'corona' that would break out and cause a lot of damage.
Then there was that spot-on prediction from 'The Simpsons' and another from self-proclaimed psychic, Sylvia Brown's book.
Here's another coincidence, slightly different from the predictive coincidences, that's made headlines — the eruption of the Indonesian Volcano Anak Krakatau, from the Krakatoa system. Although it last erupted in 2018, the coincidence in this context is the eruption that took place in 1883 claiming at least 120,000 lives. The worst in Anak Krakatau's history, 1883 was a difficult year for the world, as it was also plagued by a cholera pandemic that was rapidly killing people as well.
Media outlets reported on April 11, that Anak Krakatau has erupted, sending clouds of smoke and ash about 14 kilometers into the air. The volcano is said to have erupted with a boom that could be heard from miles away thanks to the lack of honking and noise because of the lockdown. The volcano tracking site, Volcano Discovery, called it a "large magmatic eruption", and is the biggest recorded since 2018, which also caused a 150 meter-high tsunami wave to crash against an uninhabited island.
The eruption was so massive that the volcano lost about two-thirds of its height. "The main crater smoke is gray and black with moderate to thick intensity about 200-500 meters from the summit", said Magma Indonesia.
'Child of Krakatoa'
Krakatoa is a caldera that is located in the Sundra strait between the Javan and Sumatran islands, in Indonesia's Lampung. It comprised of four islands: Land and Verlaten, which are remnants of the volcanos that once existed but got destroyed in the eruptions before 1883; Rakata, the remnant of a larger island that was destroyed in the 1883 eruption; and Anak Krakatau which literally translates to 'Child of Krakatoa' and which emerged from the caldera that was formed in 1883.
1883 eruption
The seismic activity around the volcano as it approached 1883 was quite intense and smaller eruptions began to occur in May of that year. The huge plumes of smoke and ash that the volcano released lasted until August, when tragedy struck.
On August 27, the volcano had four massive eruptions that destroyed the island completely. They were so strong that they were even heard in Perth, Australia, almost 1,930 miles away and if anyone was within a 10 miles radius of the volcano, they would've gone deaf. The explosion sent ash and soot about 80 kilometers into the air.
The tsunami that it left in its wake saw waves 42 meters high and killed at least 36,000 people (according to Dutch authorities) when it crashed against the island. Other sources pointed out that the death toll reached 120,000 as charred human remains of those that perished kept washing ashore Eastern Africa, up to a year after the explosion.
The fifth cholera pandemic
While east Asia had suffered through the massive eruption, the rest of the continent, Africa and parts of Europe were battling a cholera pandemic, the fifth most severe one to break out internationally in history. It lasted from 1881-1892 and Hamburg, Germany became the epicenter, when 8,600 people died at the hands of the disease.
Many residents blamed the city's government for being incompetent, especially when the epidemic first showed signs of being fatal (sounds familiar, in the modern context as well), which also led to the cholera riots in 1893. Mark Twain, who visited Germany during this time even noted that the Hamburg media was functioning inadequately, by not disseminating proper information and providing wrong numbers for death tolls.
Social media platforms have now turned chaotic with the thoughts of tragedies striking all at the same time since the news of this volcanic eruption released. First a pandemic, then a volcanic eruption. What's next? A meteorite hit? This planet might definitely be sending us a message.