Prophetic almost, certainly interesting, and definitely easily sing-able, the lyrics of Bob Dylan's “The Times They Are a-Changin’” seem appropriate for Indonesians living around the Sunda Strait. First some lyrics:
Come gather around people, wherever you roam
And admit that the waters around you have grown
And accept it that soon you'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin' or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'
Was he writing about the December, 2018, tsunami generated when almost 2/3 of Anak Krakatau slid into the surrounding water during an eruption, killing over 400 people? If so, then we need to tweak the lyrics and the title a bit: “The Times: They Aren’t a-Changin’." Krakatau, or Krakatoa, has a long history of eruptions, the most famous of which is the catastrophic 1883 eruption that killed more than 30,000 people in the area. A large mass of the mountain not blasted into ash fell into the resultant caldera that in conjunction with a phreatomagmatic explosion generated a tsunami over 100 feet high. We don’t need all the details here, just the key: Krakatau makes the islands of the Sunda Strait one of the most hazardous places to build a home.
We just can’t seem to pass on the information about risky places. If I told you that Anak Krakatau is simply sleeping and that it will awake, possibly with devastating pyroclastic flows, earthquakes, and tsunamis, would you say, “Hey, I want to live there. It’s a beautiful tropical site. What more could one ask for? There’s the sea and the spectacular view of a volcano.”
How soon do we forget? One generation? Living on the San Andreas or in the Andes beneath Nevada del Ruiz?
The destruction of WWI seems to have been lost on those who caused WWII just 21 years later. We’re still in the midst of overdose deaths that have been “erupting” in western culture for decades. We don’t seem to be anywhere near the end of gang violence that goes back thousands or years. I’m done. You can take over to name the rest….
So, I ask myself, “Am I living in the vicinity of some kind of analog of Anak Krakatau, some physical or human phenomenon that might repeat itself? Am I just as unaware of the dangers around me as those who recently chose to live in a volcanic danger zone that had already killed tens of thousands of former residents? What is it that I do not know because I have not carefully studied the past? In Dylan’s words, is my time ‘worth savin’? True, that which changes can also threaten. Maybe we can’t be faulted for not knowing those changes beforehand, but we can be faulted for not remembering what hasn’t changed. Krakatau hasn’t changed. It’s still a volcano capable of erupting. The San Andreas Fault hasn’t changed. The effects of war haven’t changed as the deaths of millions in WWI followed by the deaths of tens of millions in WWII reveal.”
“…you better start swimmin’.” Not my words, but surely pretty good advice.
Come gather around people, wherever you roam
And admit that the waters around you have grown
And accept it that soon you'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin' or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'
Was he writing about the December, 2018, tsunami generated when almost 2/3 of Anak Krakatau slid into the surrounding water during an eruption, killing over 400 people? If so, then we need to tweak the lyrics and the title a bit: “The Times: They Aren’t a-Changin’." Krakatau, or Krakatoa, has a long history of eruptions, the most famous of which is the catastrophic 1883 eruption that killed more than 30,000 people in the area. A large mass of the mountain not blasted into ash fell into the resultant caldera that in conjunction with a phreatomagmatic explosion generated a tsunami over 100 feet high. We don’t need all the details here, just the key: Krakatau makes the islands of the Sunda Strait one of the most hazardous places to build a home.
We just can’t seem to pass on the information about risky places. If I told you that Anak Krakatau is simply sleeping and that it will awake, possibly with devastating pyroclastic flows, earthquakes, and tsunamis, would you say, “Hey, I want to live there. It’s a beautiful tropical site. What more could one ask for? There’s the sea and the spectacular view of a volcano.”
How soon do we forget? One generation? Living on the San Andreas or in the Andes beneath Nevada del Ruiz?
The destruction of WWI seems to have been lost on those who caused WWII just 21 years later. We’re still in the midst of overdose deaths that have been “erupting” in western culture for decades. We don’t seem to be anywhere near the end of gang violence that goes back thousands or years. I’m done. You can take over to name the rest….
So, I ask myself, “Am I living in the vicinity of some kind of analog of Anak Krakatau, some physical or human phenomenon that might repeat itself? Am I just as unaware of the dangers around me as those who recently chose to live in a volcanic danger zone that had already killed tens of thousands of former residents? What is it that I do not know because I have not carefully studied the past? In Dylan’s words, is my time ‘worth savin’? True, that which changes can also threaten. Maybe we can’t be faulted for not knowing those changes beforehand, but we can be faulted for not remembering what hasn’t changed. Krakatau hasn’t changed. It’s still a volcano capable of erupting. The San Andreas Fault hasn’t changed. The effects of war haven’t changed as the deaths of millions in WWI followed by the deaths of tens of millions in WWII reveal.”
“…you better start swimmin’.” Not my words, but surely pretty good advice.
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