GRIM TOLL OF THE YOLCANO

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 514, 17 November 1928, Page 24

GRIM TOLL OF THE YOLCANO

SICILIAN DISASTER RECALLS SCENES OF DEVASTATION WHICH FOLLOWED PREVIOUS VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS

The recent disaster in Sicily caused hu that island's ancient enemy Etna has called attention to the, number of volcanic disturbances that have niven alarm in past years. Thu, article by Charles F. Talman in the Neic York “Times” presents an interesting review of these dtsasteis.

O year passes without

some oi tut B fiery manifestations. From January to March this year Krakatoa was renorted to be shooting

columns of steam and dust hundreds of feet into the air from a submarine vent Volcano experts from Batavia were at the spot, keeping watch ol events and issuing radio bulletins. Panic prevailed on the surrounding Ometepe, one of Nicaragua’s veteran spouters, broke loose in January. The same month, and again in March, the Mediterranean volcano Sautorin erupted. January likewise brought the earliest news of one of the previous year’s upheavals; Falcon Island, a volcanic Jack-in-the-box near Tonga, had reappeared above the water after long submergence, heralding its return to the map by earthquakes iu surrounding isles and by a great outpouring of smoke. Asamayama, in Japan, wit ll a long list of eruptions to its discredit, including one of the most terrible in history, was the scene of a moderate outbreak in February. In June, Vulcan turned his attention to the Philippines. Mayon, the graceful volcanic coue ill Southern Luzon, suddenly awoke from a sleep of twenty-eight years. A spectacular eruption lasted there for a fortnight

June brought news of a mild outbreak at Akutau, in tlie Aleutian Islands. In August occurred the only deadly eruption of the year so far. It took place in that hotbed of volcanic activity, the Dutch East Indies, but at a spot not previously known as the site of a live volcano. A mountain named Rokatinda, on the islet of Paloe, off the north coast of Flores, blew up in the Krakatoan manner on August 4 and 5. Several villages were annihilated, 1,000 natives perished, and many more were injured

Besides all these acute outbreaks—and probably many that passed unrecorded —there have been, during the same period, the usual tokens of less violent activity at scores of volcanic vents in various parts of the world; exhalations of steam, smoke and fumes, minor explosions, showers of ashes, boiling springs and the like. Stromboli continued to play lighthouse to the Mediterranean. Kilauea kept its home fires burning for the enlightenment of science and the delight of tourists. Vulcan is ever busy.

Vesuvius, before 1 the outbreak described by Pliny, had been a peaceful, verdure-clad mountain from the beginning of recorded history. None of its human neighbours knew that it was a volcano. Krakatoa, the island volcano in the Strait of Sunda. had been dormant for 200 years before its colossal eruption in 1883, and of the thousands of mariners and travellers who passed close to it every year, sailing through the strait, not one could have suspected the terrible powers of destruction pent up in its bosom.

On the morning of May 20, ISB3. booming sounds like the firing of artillery were heard at Batavia and Buitenzorg—towns about 100 miles from Krakatoa—and for many hours there was a rattling of doors and windows at these places. The next day ashes fell on both sides of the strait.

All this was a prelude to the real catastrophe. On the afternoon of August 26 a series of frightful explosions began. Enormous black clouds illuminated by lurid flashes were seen from vessels in surrounding waters to rise above the volcano to a height

variously estimated at from seventh to twenty-two miles. The strait a* the adjacent parts of Java Sumatra were soon plunged in imp?,'' trable darkness, lit by frequent flashof lightning, while on the masts aV spars of vessels for a score of ns around there were remarkable <j.. plays of St. Elmo’s fire, due to y highly electrified state of the day. laden atmosphere.

In one final effort all records previous explosions on this earth a. , completely broken. This suprm effort it was which produced the" mightiest noise that, so far as wee! ascertain, has ever been heard on till, globe.

Nearly six square miles of ti Island of Krakatoa were blown a» ; , leaving a chasm far below sea lew into which the waters rushed. Tt, resulting disturbance of the ocean surface, combined with the impact t enormous masses of falling materia;, set up gigantic waves, which swt;

over the low-lying shores on both sides of Suuda Strait. Towns :i;,i villages were engulfed, and more than 36,000 people were drowned. Volcanoes have often taken hear toll of human life, but no other eru - tion ever crowded so much mure into a brief moment of time as did ii one that befell the Island of Mania que in the year 1902. The volcai that, by a single puff of its fir. breath, killed more than 30,000 peo\n is called la Moutagne Pelee or MoPele (“bald mountain”), or !,f please. Mount Pelee—but not Mr. Pelee by any one who has the sligi. est respect for the French lansuagWhen the sun rose on the morniiu of the Sth the air of the city of S Pierre was nearly clear, as the wiEi was blowing the cloud of ashes fra; the crater in another direction. The was nothing to betoken an immiuei catastrophe. At two minutes oat

eight the volcano suddenly explode. Two immense blasts o£ steam and lit ashes shot out of the mountain, v. straight upward, the other down the slope directly upon the hapless city Every human being in the ph except one negro prisoner in it underground dungeon was kills Seared and choked with fiery dus scalded w ith steam, or roasted in ftfires that immediately broke out i all parts of the town, those who did

not meet instant death must hav died within a few minutes. Tht victims numbered between 30,000 at’ 31,000. On the morning of the disasn: eighteen vessels of various national ities lay at anchor in the roadstead. Only one of them, the British steamer Roddam, escaped, badly shattered

from the blast, with a large part o: the ship’s company dead or djinf A few men survived on the other vcsels. A handful of people witnessed the annihilation of St. Pierre from elevated points outside the city and filed to tell the tale.

History records no other drama tragic, no other tragedy so drama