This list of the world’s worst volcanic eruptions includes only those whose death toll can be reasonably documented. The death toll from some of the worst eruptions in history can only be guessed. The eruption of Santorini in Greece in 1650 BC destroyed competely destroyed entire civilizations. Scientist also theorize that an eruption of Tuba around 75,000 years ago caused a volcanic winter that came close to wiping out mankind.
The eruption of Tambora killed an estimated 92,000 people, including 10,000 from explosion and ash fall, and 82,000 from other related causes.
The concussion from the explosion was felt as far as a thousand miles away. Mt. Tambora, which was more than 13,000 feet tall before the explosion was reduced to 9,000 feet after ejecting more than 93 cubic miles of debris into the atmosphere.
The effects of the eruption were felt worldwide: 1816 became known as the “year without a summer” because of the volcanic ash in the atmosphere that lowered worldwide temperatures. It snowed in New England that June, and crop failures were common throughout Northern Europe and North America. As many as 100,000 additional deaths from starvation in these areas are thought to be traced to the eruption.
Thought to be dormant, Mt. Pelee began a series of eruptions on April 25, 1902. The primary eruption, on May 8 completely destroyed the city of St. Pierre, killing 25,000. The only survivors were a man held in a prison cell, and a man who lived on the outskirts of the town. Several ships also were destroyed with all hands.
Before the tragic 1902 eruption, as early as the summer of 1900, signs of increased fumarole activity were present in the Étang Sec crater near the summit. Relatively minor phreatic (steam) eruptions that occurred in 1792 and 1851 were evidence that the volcano was active and potentially dangerous. Local natives, the Carib people, knew it as "fire mountain" from previous eruptions in ancient times.
Mount Pelée began its eruptions on April 23, 1902. In early April, excursionists noted the appearance of sulfurous vapors emitting from fumaroles near the mountaintop. This was not regarded as important, as fumaroles had been appearing and disappearing in the past.
The August 1883 of Mt. Krakatoa (Krakatua) destroyed 2/3 of the island, ejecting more than six cubic miles of debris into the atmosphere. The sound of the explosion was the loudest ever documented, and was heard as far away as Australia.
Interestingly, it’s probable that no one died in the initial explosion. The casualties all came from the resulting tsunami.
The Armero tragedy (Spanish: Tragedia de Armero) was one of the major consequences of the eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz stratovolcano in Tolima, Colombia on November 13, 1985. After 69 years of dormancy, the volcano's eruption caught nearby towns unaware, even though the government had received warnings to evacuate the area from multiple volcanological organizations when volcanic activity had been detected in September 1985.
A small eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano melted part of the volcano’s ice cap, creating an enormous mudslide that buried the city of Armero, killing 23,000.
Mount Vesuvius has erupted many times. The famous eruption in 79 AD was preceded by numerous others in prehistory, including at least three significantly larger ones, the best known being the Avellino eruption around 1800 BC which engulfed several Bronze Age settlements. Since 79 AD, the volcano has also erupted repeatedly, including 1631, six times in the 18th century, eight times in the 19th century (notably in 1872), and in 1906, 1929, and 1944. There has been no eruption since 1944, and none of the post-79 eruptions were as large or destructive as the Pompeian one.
The eruptions vary greatly in severity but are characterized by explosive outbursts of the kind dubbed Plinian after Pliny the Younger, a Roman writer who published a detailed description of the AD 79 eruption, including his uncle's death. On occasion, eruptions from Vesuvius have been so large that the whole of southern Europe has been blanketed by ash; in 472 and 1631, Vesuvian ash fell on Constantinople (Istanbul), over 1,200 kilometres (750 mi) away. A few times since 1944, landslides in the crater have raised clouds of ash dust, raising false alarms of an eruption.
The eruption of Mt. Unzen was followed by an earthquake, which collapsed the east flank of the dome. The resulting avalance created a tsuanami which killed 12,000 to 15,000 in nearby towns. Unzen’s deadliest eruption occurred in 1792, with a large dacitic lava flow coming from Fugendake. The east flank of the Mayuyama dome collapsed unexpectedly following a post-eruption earthquake, creating a landslide. This caused a megatsunami that reached a height of 330 ft (100 metres), and killed an estimated 15,000 people. As of 2011 it is the worst volcanic related eruption in Japan.
Kelud volcano is considered as one of the most dangerous volcanoes of Java because of its frequent eruptions. The eruptive activity has typically generated deadly lahars, pyroclastic flows and surges that have claimed more than 15,000 lives since 1500 AD and caused widespread fatalities and destruction. The crater lake of Kelud is famous for its potential to release devastating lahars whenever an eruption occurs.
The 1586 eruption produced one of the worst lahar in the historical record of volcanic eruptions and took the lives of about 10,000 people.
The first eruption of Santa María in the recorded history occurred in October 1902. Before 1902 the volcano had been dormant for at least 500 years and possibly several thousand years, but its awakening was clearly indicated by a seismic swarm in the region starting in January 1902, which included a major earthquake in April 1902. The eruption began on 24 October, and the largest explosions occurred over the following two days, ejecting an estimated 5.5 cubic kilometres of magma. The eruption was one of the largest of the 20th century, only slightly less in magnitude to that of Mount Pinatubo in 1991.
The 1919 lahars traveled in less than an hour as far as 38 kilometers and devastated an area of more than 15,000 hectares of arable land, destroying a hundred villages and killing 5160 people. This dramatic eruption prompted the creation in May 1919 of the Volcanological Survey of Indonesia which decided as the first task to drain the crater lake waters of Kelud by way of a tunnel. The engineering work started in September 1919 and took several years to be completed.
This is yet another of the deadly active stratovolcanoes of Indonesia, belonging to the Pacific Ring of Fire that erupted in West Java of Indonesia in 1882. The Ten Thousand Hills of Tasik Malaja on the southeast slope of Galunggung Volcano has long remained a subject of speculation for Western geologists who have propounded different theories for their formation. While some suggest that, the accumulating deposits of liquid lava leakage formed them, others propose they have been created artificially.
However, the ever-active nature and horseshoe shape of Galunggung Volcano are indicative of continued tectonic unrest dating back to 23,000 years. Similar volcanic deposits have been unearthed through quarry exposures around Mount St. Helens and Mount Shasta.
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