The timing of the tsunami, over the Christmas holiday season, revived memories of the Indian Ocean tsunami triggered by an earthquake on Dec. 26, 2004, which killed 226,000 people in 14 countries, including more than 120,000 in Indonesia. The fact the tsunami was triggered by a volcano, and not by an earthquake, may be the reason why no tsunami warning was triggered, scientists said. Jose Borrero, coastal engineering expert specializing in tsunami hazards at eCoast Marine Consulting, said landslide-generated volcanic tsunami were more of a mystery than tsunami generated by earthquakes, which are better studied. "In Indonesia, we've all been waiting for another big earthquake tsunami and then boom, here we have a volcanic landslide one," said Borrero. DANGEROUS CHILDAnak Krakatau or "child of Krakatau" emerged from the Krakatau volcano, which in 1888 erupted with such force the blast was heard all the way in Perth, said Mika McKinnon, a geophysicist based in Vancouver, Canada.

Source: The Star December 24, 2018 02:53 UTC