The Eruption Of Anak Krakatau Caused A Tsunami In Today's History, 22 December 2018

JAKARTA - On December 22, 2018, a tsunami hit the coasts of Banten and Lampung. The tsunami occurred due to the eruption of Mount Anak Krakatu which triggered a landslide on a slope of 64 hectares.

The brunt of this tsunami left 426 people dead. Citing Kompas, the most fatalities were in Pandeglang, which was 288 people. Meanwhile in South Lampung, there were 116 people who died.

In Serang Regency, 20 people died. In Pesawaran and Tanggamus, 1 person died each. The number of injured victims was 7,202 people. While the number of victims who disappeared as many as 23 people.

The activity of Mount Anak Krakatau has been detected since December 21, 2018. There has been an eruption with an ash column of about 400 meters above the peak and 738 meters above sea level. The column of ash is reported to be black and the intensity of the thickness is skewed to the north. At that time, Mount Anak Krakatau was on alert.

On December 22, 2018 at 20:56 WIB, the eruption of Mount Anak Krakatu caused a slope landslide. Several BMKG seismographs and sensors in Banten and Lampung recorded an incident at 21.03 WIB.

However, because the vibration generated is not a tectonic earthquake signal, the BMKG's automatic earthquake system does not process it automatically. At 21.30 WIB, the BMKG Earthquake and Tsunami Center officials received reports of public panic because sea levels rose abnormally.

The 2018 Sunda Strait Tsunami is not the first event. On August 27, 1883, Mount Krakatoa erupted and spewed a cloud of gas mixed with volcanic material as high as 24 kilometers. There were four explosions, each of which was accompanied by a tsunami wave, which reached 30 meters high. The victim at that time reached 120 thousand.

The eruption of Mount Anak Krakatau in 2018 which was accompanied by a tsunami resulted in the destruction of most of the body of Mount Anak Krakatau. This was revealed through research conducted by a volcanologist from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), Mirzam Abdurrachman, and his team.

"Mostly, 50 percent of the body of Mount Anak Krakatau is missing," said Mirzam Abdurrachman, quoting Tempo.

Mirzam said the research was carried out after the eruption of Mount Anak Krakatu in late December 2018 to mid-2019. Mirzam and his team are members of inter-institutional research groups, such as the Center for Research and Development of Marine Geology, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology and a research team from the UK. and the United States. Its chairman is James Hunt of the National Oceanography Center (NOC).

Various facts found by the research team included the volume of mountain material that was lost and collapsed to the bottom of the Sunda Strait. Previously, it was estimated that the fallen material was as much as 0.098 cubic kilometers based on satellite imagery. However, the capture of the satellite image is only on the surface of the mountain. The initial estimate, said Mirzam, was only around 45 percent.

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