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Tambora
Indonesia
1815
Casualties: 70,000-92,000
Major Cause: Starvation
Tambora unleashed its fury over two weeks in April in the most
explosive and lethal series of eruptions in recorded history.
The blasts propelled rock and ash perhaps 25 miles into the
sky above the island of Sumbawa. Volcanic gases, including
sulfur dioxide, combined with moisture in the air to form vast
toxic clouds that soon gave rise to acid rain. Roughly 10,000
people were killed immediately, and tens of thousands more
died of starvation and disease in subsequent months. Tambora's
impact was global, as volcanic ash and aerosols rose high into
the stratosphere, filtering out sunlight and heat. Abnormally
cold weather the following year caused crop failures as far
away as Europe. In New England, snow fell in July and August,
and 1816 became known as the "year without a summer."
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Krakatau
Indonesia
1883
Casualties: 36,000-40,000
Major Cause: Tsunamis
The force of this eruption on the small, uninhabited island of
Krakatau was so great that much of the volcano, and two-thirds
of the island itself, collapsed into the sea, triggering
120-foot waves that devastated neighboring islands. One
eyewitness wrote, "the coasts of Java, as those of Sumatra,
were entirely destroyed....The villages and trees had
disappeared; we could not even see any ruins, for the waves
had demolished and swallowed up the inhabitants, their homes,
and their plantations....This was truly a scene of the Last
Judgment." The island chain then called the Dutch East Indies,
now Indonesia, has suffered many such scenes. It has more
active volcanoes than any other country, and since 1600, these
volcanoes have killed more than 160,000 people. That figure
represents nearly half of the world's recorded volcano
fatalities.
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Mont Pelée
Martinique, French West Indies
1902
Casualties: 30,000
Major Cause: Pyroclastic Flows
There were clear signs in the spring of 1902 that Pelée
threatened the nearby city of St. Pierre. For weeks heavy
ashfalls blanketed the city, and small earthquakes shook the
region. Clouds of sulfurous gas hung in the air, and birds
fell dead from the sky. A boiling-hot mudflow had even
streamed down the mountainside, burying a sugar refinery and
its workers. Yet authorities in the French colonial government
discouraged evacuation of St. Pierre because they feared it
might tip an upcoming election toward the socialist
opposition. On the morning of May 8, following a powerful
explosive eruption, a turbulent cloud of superheated gas and
rock fragments called a pyroclastic flow careened down the
mountainside at nearly 300 miles per hour. It hit the city
with the force of a hurricane, engulfed it, and set it ablaze
within seconds. Astonishingly, only one of an estimated 30,000
inhabitants, a prisoner jailed in an underground cell, was
known to have survived.
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Nevado del Ruiz
Colombia
1985
Casualties: 23,000
Major Cause: Mudflows
As with the disaster at Mt. Pelée, the shocking loss of
life caused by this eruption might have been averted if
government authorities had heeded warnings. Colombian
scientists monitoring Nevado del Ruiz had cautioned town
leaders of Armero about the volcano's increased activity and
even radioed urgent messages on the night of the eruption. But
no systematic efforts were made to evacuate the sleeping town
of 28,000. The authorities likely assumed that the town,
roughly 45 miles from the volcano's crater, was out of harm's
way. Before dawn the next morning, however, two and a half
hours after the start of the eruption, a volcanic debris flow
called a lahar buried Armero. The explosive eruption had
rapidly melted much of the volcano's snow-covered glacier,
sending water surging down canyons—picking up soil,
volcanic ash, and red-hot rock as it went. More than
three-quarters of the town's citizens perished.
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Unzen
Japan
1792
Casualties: 15,000
Major Cause: Landslides, Tsunamis
The worst volcanic disaster in Japan's history occurred in the
Unzen volcano complex on the island of Kyushu. Accounts of the
day tell of a massive avalanche of rock that hurled down
Unzen's Mount Mayuyama. The landslide, probably a pyroclastic
flow of hot ash and debris, swept through the ancient
Shimabara City, killing as many as 10,000 people. As debris
plunged into the sea and tremors shook the region, a series of
tsunamis arose to kill thousands more and destroy roughly
3,000 houses along the coast. In June 1991 Unzen awoke from a
200-year slumber to again release enormous clouds of ash and
rock, killing dozens of people. On Mount Mayuyama today, above
a rebuilt and densely populated Shimabara City, an
ampitheater-shaped scar from the 1792 landslide is a sobering
reminder of Unzen's potential danger.
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Laki
Iceland
1783
Casualties: 9,000
Major Cause: Starvation
In June 1783, a 16-mile-long fissure began opening up across
the flanks of the Laki mountain ridge in southern Iceland. The
fissure, marked by 300-foot cones of ash and debris, spewed
out vast quantities of lava for months. Ultimately, about
three and a half cubic miles of lava gushed from the fissure
and spread across 200 square miles, burying farms and churches
in the sparsely populated countryside. More lava poured onto
Earth's surface than in any other eruption in recorded
history. No one died directly from the lava flows, but the
volcanic gases released at Laki had devastating consequences.
A bizarre blue fog, made of sulfuric acid aerosols, hovered
over Iceland for weeks and even wafted to Europe. Toxic gases
and altered weather patterns caused the greatest famine in
Iceland's history, known as the "Haze Famine."
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Vesuvius
Italy
1631
Casualties: 3,500
Major Cause: Pyroclastic Flows
Because it preserved so many details of the ancient Roman
world in volcanic ash, the eruption of Vesuvius in A.D. 79 is
better known. But the eruption of 1631 killed roughly the same
number of people in a similarly gruesome way. A monk, watching
from a safe distance, observed seven "streams of lava"
shooting out from the volcano's southwestern flank and flowing
toward the Bay of Naples. These lava streams were actually
pyroclastic flows that ripped through three towns before
reaching the bay. Most of the casualties were in Torre del
Greco, where civic officials hesitated too long before
ordering the town evacuated. Today, Vesuvius remains active
and, with nearly three million people living in its shadow, is
the most dangerous volcano in Europe.
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Mt. Pinatubo
Philippines
1991
Casualties: >700
Major Cause: Pyroclastic Flows
The eruption of Pinatubo in June 1991 could easily have been
among the worst volcanic disasters in history. Only one other
eruption in the 20th century released more volcanic material,
and Pinatubo's explosive fury coincided with a typhoon that
showered rain-soaked ash throughout the region. But
unprecedented cooperation among Earth scientists monitoring
the volcano, American and Philippine military authorities, and
the Philippine government lead to the efficient evacuation of
roughly 85,000 people before the volcano's climactic eruption
on June 14. In the days that followed, the total number of
evacuees rose to about 250,000. Scientists had closely watched
the volcano from its first rumblings in April, carefully
assessed the hazard zones, and predicted the most violent
blasts with remarkable accuracy. Despite all-out efforts to
evacuate the threatened population, the eruption directly
killed between 200 and 300 people, and many others perished as
roofs collapsed under the weight of heavy ashfalls. Yet at
least 20,000 people—and perhaps thousands
more—were saved by the evacuation.
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Note on Sources
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