Indonesia’s Krakatoa volcano has erupted, lighting up the night sky with bursts of lava and ash in what is said to be its most active phase since 2018, when it caused a deadly tsunami that killed over 400 people.
Videos showing the world-famous volcano spewing a cloud of lava, ash, and smoke have inundated social media.
The seismic activity at the top of the mountain began late Friday night and proceeded till Saturday morning, according to Indonesia’s Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.
The volcano spewed thick clouds of black ash along with lava at least 657 meters (2155 ft) above sea level, the ministry reported, as it issued an orange level alert, the second highest volcano aviation warning.
VolcanoDiscovery.com, which tracks volcanic activity around the globe, estimated that Krakatoa (located between the islands of Java and Sumatra in the Indonesian province of Lampung) went into its “strongest eruptive phase” since December 2018. At that time, phreatomagmatic activity following the partial collapse of the volcano triggered a tsunami that claimed the lives of more than 400 people and displaced over 40,000.
While some netizens marvelled at the stunning images of the overnight explosions, others expressed concern that the mesmerizing spectacle could end badly for those living nearby.
While there has been no indication that a tsunami wave will follow, the Twittersphere went into meltdown suggesting (perhaps rightly so) that another large-scale disaster is too much for humankind to handle in the age of Covid-19.
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