It was in 1883 that the Indonesian volcano, Krakatoa, came into the collective conscience of the world. This is because its explosive eruption earned it the terrible distinction of being the first global catastrophe.
According to Forbes, Krakatoa, located on a small island in the Sunda Strait, not only erupted in a huge explosion but triggered a monstrous tsunami too. The two together killed over 36,000 people and injured and rendered homeless hundreds of thousands more.
The explosive eruption was so loud that it could be heard over 10 percent of the globe. It is no wonder that the deafening noise of this blast has been termed the loudest ever heard by humans in the history of the Earth.
Rakyat Post reports that the Indonesian volcano by the name of Mount Sinabung has gone live and is continuously spewing dust and smoke. The volcano has repeatedly spouted hot gas clouds that shot up over 3,000 meters into the sky.
This tall pillar of dust and smoke can be seen from far off places. It has made both locals and those around it to wonder in a fearful apprehension of whether the volcano will eventually die down or explode like Krakatoa.
Presently, the violent eruptions of Mount Sinabung have forced thousands of people to flee their homes in search of safety. This episode has not only caused hardship to the locals but has also resulted in sizeable losses to the local economy.
Indonesia is not new to volcanos. It has over 130 active ones that have continued to erupt since 2013 and Mount Sinabung is one of the more violent ones.
However, Indonesia's disaster prevention agency is not taking any chances, since Mount Sinabung's earlier eruptions in 2014 and 2015 have killed at least 23 people. An area of seven kilometers all around this 2,500-meter tall volcano's crater has been sanitized, where no one is allowed to venture.
Whether the eruptions of Mount Sinabung take a turn for the worse is being watched the world over. It certainly is giving sleepless nights to the residents living around the volcano.
