The World's Deadliest Volcanoes In History

Volcanic eruptions have shaped human history - and the world's geology - for millions of years

Mount Pinatubo exploded in the Philippines in 1991

Perhaps the most famous volcanic eruption historically was that of Mount Vesuvius in Italy in AD 79.
The explosion killed 10,000 people and wiped out the Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum.
A major eruption of Italy's Mount Vesuvius today would kill 8,000 people, according to the Willis Research Network.
The deadliest eruption of recent times was that of Mount Tambora in Indonesia in April 1816.
The explosion, which could be felt thousands of miles away, killed 92,000 people and had a profound impact on European history - 1816 became known as the "year without a summer" as the ash circulated around the globe and blocked out the sun.
Famine, disease and poverty spread across Europe and north America while Italy received regular falls of red snow, caused by the volcanic ash.

Mount Ruiz disturbed world weather patterns in 1982
Paintings from the period of dramatic sunsets have been attributed to the eruption.
Massive eruptions, such as Pinatubo in 1991 and Mount Chichon in Mexico in 1982, spewed so much debris into the upper atmosphere that they cooled the planet for months.
Meteorologists say the Mount Mount Eyjafjalljokull eruption will not have such a dramatic impact on global weather patterns.
The explosion of Mount Krakatoa in Indonesia in 1883 destroyed much of the island and killed 36,000 people - most of them are believed to have died from the resulting tsunami.
Estimates say more than six cubic miles of debris were thrown into the atmosphere while the sound of the explosion could be heard in Australia.
The eruption of Mount Pelee in Martinique, West Indies, in 1902 killed 29,025 people, mainly through ash flows, making it the world's third deadliest eruption followed by Mount Ruiz in Colombia 1985, in which 25,000 died.
A poison cloud from the eruption of Iceland's Laki volcano in 1783-84 killed thousands of people across Europe and hit farm output by spewing an estimated 120 million tons of sulphur dioxide into the air.
Assessing volcanic eruptions before 1800 is obviously difficult.
Estimates suggest the biggest eruption since the rise of modern humans was Toba in Sumatra about 71,000 years ago.
It is thought to have produced around 2,800 cubic kilometres of ash and may have reduced the world's human population to just 10,000 people.