they are ticking time bombs that can alter the shape of the world welcome to watchmojo.com and today we'll be counting down our picks for the top ten devastating volcanic disasters for this list we're counting down our picks of the most destructive volcano eruptions these are ranked by a mix of explosive power environmental impact and human death tolls we're also only including incidents that occurred within recorded human history so we won't be counting Indonesia's Lake Toba eruption around seventy five thousand years ago number ten Mount Pinatubo Philippines the power of a natural explosion is measured by
the volcanic explosivity index or vei which ranks incidents on a scale from zero to eight the eruption of Mount Pinatubo earned a six rating which qualifies it as the second largest volcanic explosion in the 20th century it caused magma flows and ash deposits that left 100,000 homeless and 847 dead thanks to the 20 million tons of sulfur dioxide emitted resulting in damage to the ozone the world's temperature dropped a whole degree fahrenheit in the following year number nine lake ela Pengo El Salvador with a vei of six ela pango was catastrophic in scale it covered
central El Salvador and waist-deep ash for over 3,800 square miles and killed an estimated 30,000 people this area is notable because it was one of the places where the Mayans called home that is until you open-- go erupted 'add the explosion effectively displaced the civilization forcing the residents to flee to northern El Salvador and Guatemala and because the volcanic fallout would have destroyed crops and livestock for thousands of miles the Mayans had to resettle permanently number eight wine a patina Peru this was South America's largest eruption in recorded history the volcano exploded with a vi6
force sending volcanic matter many miles in each direction mud and lava flows destroyed villages killed 1,500 people and only stopped once it reached the Pacific Ocean almost 75 miles away the wake was worse than the blast though as earthquakes rattled the region and sulfurous gas ruined the atmosphere historians cite this eruption as the cause of the great and famine as the compromise atmosphere lowered temperatures and ravaged crops killing 1/3 of Russia's people number seven mount big do China and North Korea few eruptions in human history have registered a seven on the vei scale but now
peg to was one of the deadly few interjected ash over 15 miles high and more than seven hundred and forty-five miles away covering the Sea of Japan and reaching as far as Hokkaido Japan's northernmost island the blast also created a crater that is 2.7 miles wide and over 2,700 feet deep which is now a lake and a popular tourist destination while the death count is unknown thousands were presumably killed due to the location in scope of the eruption number six mount Pele Martinique the lead-up to this eruption is perhaps more unsettling than the blast itself
st. Pierre was a city located at the base of Mount Pele on the island of Martinique after the volcano reportedly started shaking bubbling and foreshadowing the disaster hordes of snakes rats centipedes and biting insects fled from the mountain and terrorized the posh resort city it was said that dozens of fatalities occurred from animal bites before the volcano even exploded then came the vei for eruption which buried the city in lava and ash and killed about 30,000 people legend has it only two people survived which while not true is not that far off either number 5
Mount Vesuvius Italy Mount Vesuvius is legendary for the devastation it has caused the stratovolcano has erupted multiple times since humans colonized the area but its eruption in 79 AD was the worst of them all the vei 5 explosion buried the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in many feet of Ash rock and lava it is estimated that over 16,000 people were killed with preserved bodies still being uncovered today many died in exceptionally horrifying ways as the rapid heat expulsion vaporized bodies and caused people's heads to explode worryingly not only does the Sioux vyas remain active
to this day but also millions still live in its blast radius number 4 Laki Iceland the laki eruptions lasted eight months and plagued the northern hemisphere after the initial explosion registered a six on the i scale a series of missions were triggered that released lava and volcanic gas for parts of two years these fissures ejected chemicals that poison the atmosphere people choked to death on the fumes livestock were killed and soil was rendered unusable drastic weather changes occurred worldwide and famine was felt from Africa to Asia a quarter of Iceland's population was killed from the
blast and it's aftermath while it's estimated that six million people in multiple continents died from the fallout number three Krakatoa Indonesia Krakatoa blew itself up literally the volcanic island exploded into oblivion after the ve i6 blast which had the power of 13,000 Hiroshima bombs and can be heard 3,000 miles away besides destroying the island Krakatoa cause tsunamis 150 feet high sent volcanic debris as far as South Africa and even rippled the English Channel enough ash was released to obscure part of the Sun causing global cooling for several years over 35,000 people perished on the nearby
islands with many dying purely from the shock of the blast number two Fira Greece located on the island now known as Santorini the Thira or Minoan eruption exploded over 3500 years ago and its effects are still felt today in a 20-mile radius of the blast zone ash deposits 100 feet thick are present and at the bottom of this ash lays the ancient Minoan civilization of Akrotiri the vei seven explosion preserved the city in perpetuity and the site is rife with buildings and artifacts it is thought the Thira as well as biblical plague stories inspired the
atlantis legend the truthfulness of these theories remains blurred though the fact that this was one of the largest volcanic events on earth and recorded history cannot be denied before we unveil our top pick here are a few dishonorable mentions number one Mount Tambora Indonesia in 1815 Mount Tambora exploded with the energy of 2 million atomic bombs the vei 7 eruption was 100 times more powerful than Mount Vesuvius and 10 times more powerful than Krakatoa it tore 4000 feet off the mountain killed all the vegetation on the island and expelled so much chemical ash that much
of the world went without a summer in 1816 widespread disease and famine predictably occurred which reportedly along with the initial blast killed as many as 100,000 people as volcanic disasters go Tambora is a hard act to follow do you agree with our list which eruption fact shocked you the most for more stupefying top 10s published daily be sure to subscribe to watchmojo.com
