Since Vesuvius

There was a fearful black cloud riven by darting tongues of flame, which then dissolved into long plumes of fire. We could hear the shrieks of women, the screams of children. Most were convinced that this must be the end of the world." So wrote Pliny the Younger of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79, the most famous volcanic explosion in history. The blast buried the Roman towns of Herculaneum and Pompeii under mud and hot ash and killed at least 2,000. In more modern times there have been several catastrophic eruptions of volcanoes. Among them:

1669: Mount Etna, a long-active peak in Sicily, spewed a river of lava that poured through the streets of Catania. Some 20,000 perished in Catania and 13 other cities and towns.

1783: Mount Skaptar erupted in Iceland, filling a valley with lava up to 75 ft. deep. The blast's devastating effects on farming and fishing caused a famine that killed 10,000 (one-fifth of the country's population) and destroyed most of the island's livestock.

1815: Mount Tambora on Indonesia's Sumbawa Island exploded, ejecting 25 cu. mi. of volcanic material, the greatest amount since ancient times. Whirlwinds and tidal waves killed 12,000, while dust and ash plunged the island into darkness for three days.

1883: Krakatoa, a volcanic island in Indonesia, blew apart in modern history's most devastating eruption. The bang could be heard 3,000 miles away. The eruption left a hole in the ocean floor more than 1,100 ft. deep and 6 1/2 miles wide; islands 50 miles away were showered with fiery boulders weighing as much as 70 Ibs. The explosion caused 130-ft. tidal waves that swept over hundreds of villages on nearby islands, including Java and Sumatra, and drowned 36,000.

1902: Mount Pelee, a long-dormant volcano on the island of Martinique, exploded, sending a huge cloud of dust, steam and gas, believed to be as hot as 1,800DEG F over the town of Saint-Pierre. Within minutes the town was a smoldering ruin, and 29,933 inhabitants were dead. Only four residents are known to have survived, including a convicted murderer who was imprisoned in a dungeon cell.

1912: Mount Katmai, in Alaska's remote Aleutian Range, belched a 15-mile flood of lava. There were no known fatalities, but it was the largest blast in North American history--ten times the magnitude of the one at Mount St. Helens. qed

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