Eruption at Krakatoa

by Katrina Charman

  She was still adjusting to her new home on Mount Rajabasa, as were the others who had joined them. A couple of days after the final eruption, the tremors had ceased and the winds had drawn the ash and dust away across the ocean. The air was still musty and remained hotter than it usually was in October, but the noxious gases had gone, along with the threat of debris falling from the sky.

  Many animals from Raja’s rain forest and surrounding areas who had lost their homes, either from fire or water, had made their way wearily up the mountainside. But for as many who had found their way and had survived, many more were missing, and Melati doubted they would ever be seen again.

  Raja was back to full health, with the help—to Melati’s surprise—of a human boy. He sneaked away from the other humans in their camp and brought water and food for Raja. The other tigers had voiced their desire to eat the boy rather than subsist on fruit, licking their lips greedily whenever he approached. But Raja had made it clear that the boy was not to be harmed. Not now, not ever. He had saved the boy and in return the boy had saved him, and despite the tigers’ obvious hunger, they honored Raja’s wish.

  Melati was amused to see that Raja had taken in stride his new role as king of the mountain, and it didn’t take long for his usual swagger to return—although she noticed that he was quieter now and more attentive to the other animals and their quarrels. Some humans, along with the boy and his mother, also made the mountain their new home, too afraid to return to Ketimbang—not that there was much to return to. Many, though, had gone back, led by Johanna’s father, to rebuild the village.

  Johanna’s white house had been one of the first to be rebuilt, but now it stood on a barren hill, alone, and with the trees in the grove destroyed, Melati hadn’t been able to visit it yet. She would, in time, maybe when the fruit grove regrew, maybe sooner. She just needed a little time to adjust, to make a new home for herself and find a place to belong.

  The Dutch had arrived from another country far across the water, to help rebuild, as Johanna’s mother had promised, and already Melati could see new homes being erected using timber salvaged from old houses. The fishermen repaired their boats and returned to the water. The harbor was slowly being rebuilt so that ships and steamers could continue to trade along the Sumatran and Javanese coasts.

  The pyres remained along the beach, though, untouched. Tall piles of charred wood were reminders of all those who had been lost to the tsunami. The memory of them would remain long after any evidence of what had happened there had been erased. Out in the Sunda Strait, steamers and ships continued along their paths as usual, many giving the smoldering remains of Krakatoa a wide berth. It would be a long time, Melati thought, until any ventured close to the ravaged island again.

  A few days earlier, Melati had been flying over the strait and had been sure she saw the captain of the steamer that had saved her life. It gave her a sense of hope that life might one day return, not to normal, but to some kind of new order.

  “The monkeys will just have to share!” Raja was telling Budi as they stood and bickered below Melati’s tree.

  She swooped down to the ground, giving Budi a sympathetic smile as he sighed.

  “They have claimed the tree as their own and they won’t let any other animal near it, even the ants!” Budi replied. “It’s preposterous!”

  “Can’t you deal with it, Budi?” Raja complained. “I promised I would teach the tiger cubs how to pounce on unsuspecting victims.”

  Budi sighed. “Fine!” he huffed. “But if they don’t listen to me this time, then they are your problem.”

  Raja grinned at Budi, then gave Melati a wink. “Of course!” he said. “After all, I am king of the mountain. I think I prefer it to the jungle. This one is named after me; it’s as though it was meant to be—Rajabasa!”

  Budi narrowed his eyes at Raja. “Just like that?” he said. “You will deal with the monkeys if I can’t get through to them?”

  Melati smiled to herself, seeing the trap coming before Budi did.

  “Well,” Raja said slowly with a sly smile, “I will, if you can reach the top of the mountain faster than me!”

  With that, he raced off, leaving Budi shaking his head in the dust. Budi glared at the ground for a moment, then up at the quickly retreating Raja, then at Melati.

  “You know your pride won’t allow Raja to win,” she said.

  Budi smiled and thundered after Raja, leaving Melati alone.

  Melati spotted the familiar gray form of Dewi ambling through the trees, stopping every now and then to pick up and eat termites. Melati flew down to meet her, pecking at a half-squashed orange on the ground.

  “Melati!” Dewi said. “I was just coming to see you. How have you been, since the… you know?”

  Melati sighed. “I feel as though I don’t know where I belong anymore, Dewi,” she answered. “Do you feel like that?”

  “I suppose so,” Dewi said. “But I like it up here, too. There are plenty of trees, and more pangolins have just moved in. Besides, I’m sure we will return to the jungle one day. Nature has a way of putting things right, eventually.”

  Melati thought about what Dewi had said, and an idea popped into her mind. “I’m going to check on something,” she said. “I’ll be back soon.”

  With that, she took off, soaring down the mountainside, over Ketimbang and the humans rebuilding their village, and out to sea. A thin plume of smoke still rose from what was left of her home, Krakatoa island. The island was a pile of rubble. She flew closer and landed on the rocky black shore. The beaches had disappeared, and in their place thick layers of black rock lay on top of one another in dense folds from where the hot lava had flowed, then been cooled by the sea.

  The waves were calm once more, gently lapping against the shore, but when Melati looked across the island, there were no trees, no birds, no mountains. Perboewatan, Danan, and Rakata had all been destroyed. Only piles of rock, rubble, and pumice remained in their place.

  She flew over what remained of the island, looking out for any signs of life. Surely, something must have survived, she thought. Anything that might give her the smallest hope that she, too, might return to her home one day. After a while, she gave up, her heart sinking into her chest. Nothing had survived. Not a single plant or blade of grass.

  She perched upon the warm rock and prepared to say goodbye. Then something caught her eye, creeping inside a small crevice in front of her, making its way cautiously across the cooling lava, which had already turned rock-hard in places.

  Melati hopped closer, trying not to scare it away, and she peered down at it curiously. A spider. No bigger than an ant. The smallest of creatures she had seen on the island, but a living thing nevertheless. It had already begun to spin a web from one side of the rock to another, and Melati sat back in awe. This tiny creature was here, living on her island, making itself a home, and the sight of it gave her a flicker of hope. Because despite everything that had happened, everything that had been lost—all those who had not survived—Dewi had been right. And here was proof of it, right in front of Melati’s eyes. Nature did have a way of putting things right.

  Melati and her friends, both animals and humans, had survived the eruption of Krakatoa and the horror that followed in its wake, and they would be here to see a new island take shape. So that one day, life, and perhaps Melati, could return to Krakatoa.

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  Author’s Note

  The eruption of Krakatoa was one of the most devastating volcanic eruptions the modern world had ever witnessed.

  Before its catastrophic eruption in 1883, Krakatoa had been dormant for over two hundred years, and locals believed it to be an extinct volcano. This was one of the first volcani
c eruptions that had hundreds of witnesses, and it helped scientists begin to understand how a volcano is created and what causes one to erupt.

  When researching this story and the events in Indonesia, I found many firsthand accounts to draw from: reports from geologists living near the area who took scientific readings, and eyewitness reports from many ship captains who reported strange weather and other phenomena, along with accounts of what happened when the rumblings first began and the eruption itself.

  In my story, Melati the parakeet finds herself lost and out at sea, only surviving because she lands upon a steamer. The events described on the ship actually happened. Captain Johan Lindemann was navigating the excursion ship the Gouverneur-General Loudon through the Sunda Strait during the eruption of Krakatoa. After ordering everyone on board down into the holds, he steered the boat directly into the approaching tsunami, somehow making it through in one piece.

  The eruption, while deadly in itself, was not the main threat to people living along the coastlines of Java and Sumatra. The tsunamis created by the continual explosions caused the massive walls of water that destroyed everything in their path, and sadly, tens of thousands of people lost their lives.

  There are more unusual stories that supposedly came from eyewitnesses of the tsunami, although they may be more fiction than fact. One man is said to have fallen asleep in his bed and been swept up the hill by the tsunami—as he awoke still in bed, but in an entirely different location. Another man claims to have ridden the waves on the back of a crocodile that carried him to safety!

  The final eruption of Krakatoa, which consisted of four massive explosions and began on August 26, 1883, took twenty hours and fifty-six minutes. The island all but blew itself to pieces, and the only part of the original island that remains today is part of the mountain called Rakata.

  But the eruption didn’t only affect the islands of Indonesia. It was so massive that the final eruption was heard over one-twelfth of the earth’s surface, with scientists across the globe recording the sound waves and tremors. It was estimated that the sound, which has been recorded as the loudest noise ever heard by humans, was so immense that it reverberated around the globe seven times.

  In fact, the effects of the eruption were felt and seen for a long while afterward. People in Australia and Mauritius reported hearing the sound, and the weather was affected for years, with a reported drop in temperature in the northern hemisphere, caused by the ash and dust particles being emitted into Earth’s atmosphere.

  As Melati notes in this book, this change in atmosphere also affected sunsets and sunrises. In London, an artist named William Ashcroft was so taken by the unusual phenomena that he painted over five hundred canvases of the changing colors. Across the world, people reported seeing a blue moon at sunset and green, orange, and red sunsets and sunrises.

  The greatest consequence of the eruption and tsunamis was, of course, the devastating loss of life. Those who survived lost their homes, and just like the humans and animals in this story, they had to find some way to start anew and rebuild their lives after the horrific tragedy.

  As Dewi says, nature has a way of putting things right, and from the ashes and lava of Krakatoa, a new volcanic island began to emerge. Anak Krakatau, which means Son of Krakatoa, is the new island, which has grown to be even larger than its predecessor and continues to be an active volcano to this day.

  Animal Facts

  SUMATRAN TIGER

  • The Sumatran tiger is on the critically endangered list, with fewer than four hundred estimated to be alive today.

  • This tiger lives only on Sumatra in Indonesia and is the smallest of the tiger subspecies.

  • The Sumatran tiger’s fur has narrow black stripes so that it can hide among the trees in its rain forest territory.

  SUMATRAN RHINOCEROS

  • The Sumatran rhinoceros has two horns, which are smaller than those of its African relatives.

  • This rhinoceros is the smallest of its relatives and lives in dense forests, eating fruit, leaves, and other vegetation.

  • The Sumatran rhinoceros can grow to be 10 feet long and weigh over 1,700 pounds.

  PARAKEET

  • The parakeet is one of over eighty-five different species of parrot that can be found living in Indonesia.

  • The parakeet has a sharp, curved beak and prefers to eat seeds and fruit.

  • The parakeet lives in warmer climates and can travel hundreds of miles to find food and water.

  PANGOLIN

  • A pangolin looks like an anteater, but its entire body, including its tail, is covered in hard gray scales.

  • Like the anteater, a pangolin likes to slurp up ants and termites with its long tongue.

  • The pangolin curls up into a ball when it feels threatened and so has very few predators who can actually attack it!

  Timeline

  Indonesia, 1883

  May

  May 9: Just before midnight, tremors are felt across the Sumatran and Javan coastlines when fresh magma breaks through the surface of Perboewatan, one of the three main volcanic mountains on Krakatoa, splitting the crust apart.

  May 10: More vibrations are felt, along with tremors in the air.

  May 15: The vibrations occur again. The powerful tremors are experienced along the Sumatran coast.

  May 20: There are continuous earthquakes, and a heavy rain of ash falls, clouding the air surrounding Krakatoa. The trees on one side of Perboewatan begin burning, and the mountain is covered in ash. The initial eruption is witnessed by many ships and steamers sailing past Krakatoa through the Sunda Strait.

  May 21: Local fishermen and the Dutch official who colonized the village of Ketimbang go to investigate the eruptions. On Krakatoa they smell sulfur gas. The cloud continues to rise above the island.

  May 27: The larger eruptions stop. Vast areas of the forests on Krakatoa have been burned to the ground, and the column of smoke continues to rise, but the people think the worst is over.

  June

  June 24: People living along the Javan coast can see two separate columns of smoke rising, but no more earthquakes or tremors are felt.

  August

  August 11: There are now at least three craters erupting on Krakatoa. The fall of smoke, ash, and pumice continues onto the beaches and coastlines.

  August 26, 1:06 PM: An earthquake is felt in the distance; then come the first explosions from Krakatoa. Huge white clouds billow from the volcano, and the ocean begins to move erratically. As the dust and ash arrive at the coastlines, it shrouds the land in darkness.

  2:00 PM: The explosions continue, becoming louder as more debris is flung from the volcano’s craters. Along the coastlines, beaches and harbors flood.

  5:00 PM: The Sumatran coastline grows dark as massive rocks of pumice fall from the sky.

  11:00 PM: Krakatoa is visible through the darkness because of the fire and lava that now flow freely from it. On the coastlines, the wind becomes hot and filled with choking gas.

  Midnight: The explosions continue, with increased lightning in the sky above. The ocean becomes more agitated, and huge waves begin to rear up across the strait.

  August 27, 2:00 AM: The waves are getting higher. Ketimbang and much of the coastline are under threat of becoming completely flooded. A wall of water 150 feet high races toward the coastlines of both Java and Sumatra.

  4:00 AM: The explosions become fiercer.

  5:30 AM: The first of four massive eruptions begins, ripping Krakatoa island apart.

  6:15 AM: Ketimbang and much of the Sumatran coastline are destroyed, completely wiped out by the tsunami and the giant waves that follow in its wake with each of the eruptions.

  6:44 AM: The volcano erupts for the second time.

  8:20 AM: The third explosion. Its effects are felt farther inland, as well as along the coastline, as buildings shake on their foundations and windows shatter.

  10:02 AM: The final eruption. It becomes the most violent eruption ever r
ecorded and witnessed. The blast from the volcano is sent twenty-four miles directly up into the air, and the fallout changes the earth’s atmosphere and climate for years to come.

  Glossary

  DEBRIS: the remains of something broken or destroyed

  DORMANT: quiet and inactive

  FISSURE: a crack that splits rock or earth into two parts

  PEAK: the top of a mountain

  PENINSULA: an area of land sticking out into the water

  PUMICE: light volcanic rock formed when lava solidifies

  PYRE: a pile of wood used for burning things

  STEAMER: a boat propelled by steam

  STRAIT: a narrow passage of water

  SUMMIT: the highest point of a mountain

  TERRITORY: an area or region of land

  TSUNAMI: a large wave caused by a volcanic eruption beneath the ocean

  Further Reading

  Benoit, Peter. The Krakatau Eruption. New York: Scholastic, 2011.

  Boyce, Natalie Pope, and Osborne, Mary Pope. Magic Treehouse Fact Tracker 15: Tsunamis and Other Natural Disasters. New York: Random House, 2007.

  Jenner, Caryn. In the Shadow of the Volcano. New York: DK Children, 2014.

  Schreiber, Anne. Volcanoes. New York: National Geographic Kids, 2008.

  Winchester, Simon. Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded. New York: HarperCollins, 2008.

  Woolf, Alex. The Science of Natural Disasters: The Devastating Truth About Volcanoes, Earthquakes, and Tsunamis. London: Franklin Watts, 2018.