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If you have ever lived near an active volcano, hold onto to your seats. These statistics may have you moving to a new area.

In A.D.79, Mount Vesuvius erupted and engulfed Pompeii. One record of the event was recorded by a horrified survivor. Mount Vesuvius erupted once again in 1631 killing some 4,000 people.

Turn to Sicily, in 1669, Mount Etna covered the streets of Catalina in hot molten lava, killing 20,000 people and the surrounding region was also left devastated with animals also being killed for miles.

1783 had its share of horrifying eruptions as Mount Skaptar in Iceland caused a famine and killed off the fishing and farming. 1/5 of the population was killed.

Mount Tambora, on Sumbawa Island in Indonesia erupted causing tsunamis and some devastation of huge proportions killing 12,000 people.

In 1815, whirlwinds and tsunamis from the eruption of Mount Tambora, on Sumbawa Island in Indonesia, killed 12,000 people. The volcano sent a cloud ejecta into the atmosphere that was more than four times the amount ejected by Mount Pinatubo in 1991.

Krakatoa erupted in 1883 and the eruption was recorded as being heard 3,000 MILES away. Seventy-pound boulders landed on islands 50 miles away, and a 130-foot tsunami devastated hundreds of villages, including Java and Sumatra. About 36,000 people died. Dust high in the atmosphere caused the Moon to appear blue, and sometimes green, for two years.

Then in 1902 we have Mount Pele on the island of Martinique,that smothered the town of Saint-Pierre in deadly gas and hot ash, killing 29,933 of the 29,937 residents.

Then our generations Mt. Saint Helen erupts in 1980 causing 57. Mt. Saint Helen appears to be a baby compared to some of our earlier 'volcano ancestors'.

In 1991 After 600 years of dormancy, Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines rumbled for days before erupting and killing about 750 people, including several journalists who kept vigil in a restricted area waiting for the eruption. Ash was more than 6 feet deep in a two-mile radius around the volcano, and buried a U.S. air base 15 miles away.

Learn more about this author, Grace Olivia Nordberg.
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