This was just the start of something enormous
Krakatoa at this time, had its own little island in the many islands laying in Indonesia. This island of Krakatoa was about 5.5 miles long and 3 miles wide. During the volcanic eruptions, about 2/3 of the whole island fell underneath the sea and into the magma chamber of the volcano.
The Sunday of August 26th, 1883, at 12:53 pm marked the beginning of the disastrous eruption of Krakatoa. Even before August 26th, Krakatoa was already experiencing volcanic activities as stated by the captain of the Elizabeth (German warship) seeing clouds of ash rising from the opening of the volcano in the May of 1883. At 12:53pm, Krakatoa blasted out magma (a force that is equal to about 13,000 times more powerful than the Hiroshima nuclear bomb) that also came with a huge, black, stirring cloud containing the debris from the volcano. The cloud started rising to about 25 kilometers over the island in just a few seconds! In the course of the next few hours, the cloud would continue to rise, ending up with a height at a minimum of 35 kilometers above the island! This eruption was so loud it could have shattered one's eardrums!
At 5:30am, the beginning of at least 4 incredible eruptions would spew out of the vent of the Krakatoa volcano. These eruptions would climax to the huge blast that blew Krakatoa away. Areas that were over 4,600 kilometers away could hear the noise of this eruption! Most of the Krakatoa island collapsed into the magma chamber of Krakatoa and a new caldera was formed from the crumbling of the 3 volcanic peaks linked to the island.
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