Today in History
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Today in History |
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August 27, 1883 |
During the spring and summer of 1883, the volcano on the South Pacific island of Krakatoa had been particularly active. In August of that year, however, the eruptions intensified, and on August 24th they began to occur every 10 minutes. On August 27th, the volcano erupted with a series of four explosions that, by most calculations, created the single loudest noise in recorded history. Tsunamis followed each explosion, with tidal changes noted as far away as South Africa and the English Channel. Roughly 3,500 miles away in Perth, Australia, people heard the explosions. The pressure wave traveled around the earth as many as seven times. Several small villages in the area, one at least 25 miles away on Sumatra, were completely devastated with no survivors by pyroclastic gases. The island of Krakatoa was diminished to a fraction of its pre-eruption size.
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