1257 Mount Samalas | |
|---|---|
| Total costs | N/A |
| Deaths | 20000 |
In 1257, a catastrophic eruption occurred at the Samalas volcano on the Indonesian island of Lombok. The event had a probable Volcanic Explosivity Index of 7, making it one of the largest volcanic eruptions during the current Holocene epoch. It created eruption columns reaching tens of kilometres into the atmosphere and pyroclastic flows that buried much of Lombok and crossed the sea to reach the neighbouring island of Sumbawa. The flows destroyed human habitations, including the city of Pamatan, which was the capital of a kingdom on Lombok. Ash from the eruption fell as far as 340 kilometres (210 mi) away in Java; the volcano deposited more than 10 cubic kilometres (2.4 cu mi) of rocks and ash. The eruption was witnessed by people who recorded it on the Babad Lombok, a document written on palm leaves. It left behind a large caldera that contains Lake Segara Anak. Later volcanic activity created more volcanic centres in the caldera, including the Barujari cone, which remains active. The aerosols injected into the atmosphere reduced the solar radiation reaching the Earth's surface, causing a volcanic winter and cooling the atmosphere for several years. This led to famines and crop failures in Europe and elsewhere, although the exact scale of the temperature anomalies and their consequences is still debated. The eruption may have helped trigger the Little Ice Age, a centuries-long cold period during the last thousand years. Before the site of the eruption was known, an examination of ice cores around the world had found a large spike in sulfate deposition around 1257, providing strong evidence of a large volcanic eruption having occurred somewhere in the world. In 2013, scientists linked the historical records about Mount Samalas to these spikes.
Source: Wikipedia 1570 All Saints Flood | |
|---|---|
| Total costs | N/A |
| Deaths | 20000 |
The All Saints' Flood (Dutch: Allerheiligenvloed) of 1570 was a disaster which happened on November 1, on the Dutch and German coast. Affected cities include Egmond, Bergen op Zoom and Saeftinghe. On 1 November 1570, the Domeinraad council in Bergen op Zoom had warned the dijkgraafs of the south and north quarters of a 'very excessive high flood' 'considering those big storms of wind starting yesterday'. A storm surge pushed the water to unprecedented heights, even higher than those at the flood disaster of 1953. It broke innumerable dikes on the Dutch coasts, as a result of which there were enormous floods and immense damage. The total number of dead is thought to have been in the tens of thousands, but exact data is not available. Tens of thousands of people became homeless. Livestock was lost in huge numbers. Winter stocks of food and fodder were destroyed. The Allerheiligenvloed marks the origin of the Verdronken Land van Saeftinghe (verdronken meaning 'drowned'). In Zeeland the small islands Wulpen, Koezand, Cadzand and Stuivezand were permanently lost. It was confirmed that the floods drowned 20,000 people.
Source: WikipediaThe Great Hurricane of 1780, also known as Huracán San Calixto, the Great Hurricane of the...
The Chūetsu earthquakes (中越地震, Chūetsu jishin) occurred in Niigata Prefecture, Japan, at 17:56...
Whakaari / White Island ([faˈkaːɾi]), commonly known as White Island or Whakaari, is an active...
The Doji bara famine (also Skull famine) of 1791–1792 in the Indian subcontinent was brought on...
Welcome to 