Worst Volcanic Eruptions That Destroyed All

By Sneha

Thursday, October 11, 2012, 19:02 [IST]

There have been many volcanic eruptions in the history of our planet that had devastating effects. Sometimes the whole civilization got destroyed because of this. There are primarily three kinds of volcanoes named dead, dormant and active. The active volcanoes erupt often. The dead or extinct volcanoes are those that have no magma supply and hence are declared by scientists as unlikely to erupt again. But the dormant volcanoes are the one that might remain extinct for a long period of time and then suddenly erupt one day killing millions.

The volcanic eruptions in the countries of Iceland, Indonesia, West Indies have shown us that how devastating the volcanic eruptions can be, this is one of the natural disasters that gives people very little chance to escape. Some volcanic eruptions have went for as long as 19 hours. You must have witnessed the dame scene in some of movies like Volcano. But, in real life people are really not that fortunate.

Not only the hot magma from the eruptions killed people. But the poisonous gases like sulphur dioxide were also responsible for the death toll. Some cities like Pompeii got buried under the layers of the ashes of the volcanoes. The eruptions were sometimes so great that the sound could be heard through continents.

There are also many after-effects of such natural disasters. Many such eruptions have led to a famine and plague afterwards. Even the survivors became the victims of the volcanis eruptions in some way or the other.

Check out some of the most famous eruptions that have shocked the whole world with its devastating effects.

Mt. Tambora, Indonesia

This is one of the worst volcanic eruptions in the history of the world. The eruption killed about 92,000 people. A part of this figure got killed by the eruption and the rest due to the ash fall and other causes.

Mt. Pelee, West Indies

This was considered to be one of the dormant volcanoes till it erupted in 1902. It completely consumed the city of St, Pierre and killed thousands.

Laki, Iceland

The mountain itself did not erupt. But, fissures opened up on the sides of the mountain. The lava and clouds of poisonous hydrofluoric acid and sulfur dioxide killed a majority of livestock and the population. This is one of the volcanic eruptions that also led to a famine thereafter.

Mount Vesuvius, Italy

The Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum was destroyed in one of the famous eruptions of all times. Pompeii got buried in almost ten feet of ashes in the 19 hours duration of the volcanic blast.