Volcanic eruptions can be highly explosive, volatile, or neither. Certain volcanoes have undergone catastrophic eruptions, killing countless numbers of humans, and this list attempts to document those volcanic eruptions by death toll.
Volcanic eruptions
Deaths |
Volcano |
Location |
Date |
102,000 |
Mount Tambora (see also 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora and Year Without a Summer) |
Indonesia |
1815 |
Unknown. May have contributed to the fall of Minoan civilization, famine in China, and the collapse of the Xia dynasty.[citation needed] |
Santorini (see Minoan eruption) (aka Thera) |
Greece |
Between 1650 and 1500 BC |
Unknown precisely: 6 million,[1] including a million in Japan,[2] a similar number in France,[2] many in the rest of northern Europe and in Egypt. Killed 9,350 people in Iceland, about 25% of the island's population. |
Laki (Grimsvötn) |
Iceland |
1783 |
Unknown. Possibly as many as two million, or one-third of the population, were killed in Russia; see Russian famine of 1601–1603 |
Huaynaputina |
Peru |
1600 |
36,000 |
Krakatoa (see also 1883 eruption of Krakatoa) |
Indonesia |
1883 |
30,000 |
Mount Pelée |
Martinique |
1902 |
23,000 |
Nevado del Ruiz |
Colombia |
1985 |
18,000 |
Mount Vesuvius |
Italy |
79 |
15,000 |
Mount Unzen |
Japan |
1792 |
10,000 |
Mount Kelut |
Indonesia |
1586 |
6,000 |
Santa Maria |
Guatemala |
1902 |
5,115 |
Mount Kelut |
Indonesia |
1919 |
4,000 |
Mount Galunggung |
Indonesia |
1822 |
3,500 |
El Chichón |
Mexico |
1982 |
3,360 |
Mount Vesuvius |
Italy |
1631 |
2,942 |
Mount Lamington |
Papua New Guinea |
1951 |
2,000 |
Tseax Cone |
Canada |
Around 1700 |
1,680 |
Soufrière |
St. Vincent |
1902 |
1,584 |
Mount Agung |
Indonesia |
1963 |
1,369 |
Mount Merapi |
Indonesia |
1930 |
1,335 |
Mount Mayon |
Philippines |
1897 |
1,335 |
Mount Taal |
Philippines |
1911 |
1,151 |
Mount Asama |
Japan |
1783 |
1,000 |
Cotopaxi |
Ecuador |
1877 |
847 |
Mount Pinatubo |
Philippines |
1991 |
353[3] |
Mount Merapi |
Indonesia |
2010 |
245 |
Nyiragongo |
Democratic Republic of the Congo |
2002 |
192 |
Furnas |
Portugal |
1630 |
152 |
Mt Ruapehu, Tangiwai |
New Zealand |
1953 |
150 |
Mount Tarawera |
New Zealand |
1886 |
150[4] |
Torishima |
Japan |
1902 |
87 |
Volcán Arenal |
Costa Rica |
1968 |
57 |
Mount St. Helens |
United States |
1980 |
57 |
Mount Ontake |
Japan |
2014 |
43 |
Mount Unzen |
Japan |
1991 |
31[5] |
Nabro Volcano |
Eritrea |
2011 |
19 |
Soufrière Hills |
Montserrat |
1997 |
15[6] |
Sinabung |
Indonesia |
2014 |
9 |
Galeras |
Colombia |
1993 |
See also
References