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Disasters with highest death tolls

1815 Eruption of Mount Tambora

Monday Apr 10, 1815
(Sumbawa, Lesser Sunda Islands, Dutch East Indies), Indonesia

The 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora was the most powerful in human recorded history, with a Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) of 7. Although its eruption reached a violent climax on 10 April 1815, increased steaming and small phreatic eruptions occurred during the next six months to three years. Tanguy pointed out that there may have been additional victims on Bali and East Java because of famine and disease. Their estimate was 11,000 Oppenheimer wrote that there were at least 71,000 deaths in total. Reid has estimated that 100,000 people on Sumbawa, Bali, and other locations died from the direct and indirect effects of the eruption.


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