Worst Volcanic Eruptions

The 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in Philippines was one of the worst volcanic eruptions in the last 20 years. It resulted in death of approximately 700 people - a huge number considering we boast of state-of-the-art equipment which can predict any such activity beforehand. If you thought that was severe, you are wrong. The 1985 Nevado del Ruiz volcanic eruption resulted in death of as many as 23,000 individuals in the South American nation of Colombia. The death toll of 23,000 makes Nevado del Ruiz volcanic eruption of 1985 the worst eruption over the period of last 100 years. It may come as a surprise for many, but neither of the two are considered to be the worst eruptions in history. In fact, the Nevado del Ruiz - with death toll of 23,000, doesn't even feature in the top three eruptions in the history.

Methodology

While the intensity of an earthquake is measured using Richter magnitude scale aka Richter scale, the Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) is used to measure the explosiveness of a volcanic eruption. It is an open ended scale which gives the largest volcanic eruptions a magnitude of 8 and non-explosive eruptions a magnitude of 0. The credit for the development of Volcanic Explosivity Index goes to renowned volcanologist Chris Newhall and Stephen Self. According to this scale, the explosivity value of a volcanic eruption is determined on the basis of the volume of products, eruption cloud height, type of volcano, etc. Even though its application is quite popular in the field of geology, it may be a bit too harsh on our part to expect a layman to understand the intricacies of the entire process. That being said, it is better off to stick to the death toll to determine which of these volcanic eruptions are the worst in history, rather than going with the explosivity index for the same.

Top 10 Worst Volcanic Eruptions in History

One has to take several volcano facts into consideration when determining which was the worst volcanic eruption - including the fact that a volcanic eruption with a magnitude of VEI 8 need not necessarily be the worst eruption ever. A volcanic eruption with a magnitude of VEI 5 or 6 can create much more havoc as compared to its counterparts with a magnitude of 7 and 8. For instance, the Mount Pinatubo volcanic eruption of 1991, which measured VEI 6, resulted in death of as many as 700 people in Philippines, while Mount Pelée eruptions of 1902, which measured VEI 4, killed around 33,000 people on Martinique island in the Caribbean Sea. This severity of a volcanic eruption depends on several factors including the period of explosion and the region where the volcano lies. Given below is a list of the worst volcanic eruptions ever recorded in terms of death toll.

Rank	Name	Country	VEI	Death Toll
1	Mount Tambora 1815	Indonesia	7	92000
2	Krakatoa 1883	Indonesia	6	36000
3	Mount Pelée 1902	Martinique	4	33000
4	Nevado del Ruiz 1985	Colombia	3	23000
5	Mount Vesuvius 1631	Italy	4	18000
6	Mount Unzen 1792	Japan	2	15000
7	Mount Kelut 1586	Indonesia	4	10000
8	Santa Maria 1902	Guatemala	6	6000
9	Mount Galunggung 1822	Indonesia	5	4000
10	El Chichón 1982	Mexico	5	3500

While those were the worst eruptions which were recorded by volcanologists, there have been more severe eruptions which probably killed millions of people in one go. Among these, one of the best example is the Laki eruption of 1783 in Iceland - which is estimated to have killed over six million people on the planet. The only reason why 1783 Laki eruption, and other such natural disasters (like the Lake Toba eruption and Minoan eruption) didn't make it to this list of eruptions is because their death toll revolves largely around estimates instead of a confirmed figure.