A 13 November 1985 eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano in Tolima, Colombia, after 69 years of dormancy, that melted glacial ice into lahars racing downhill at about 50 kilometers per hour and engulfed the town of Armero. It is widely regarded as a preventable disaster, since volcanologists had warned authorities weeks in advance, and it remains the second-deadliest volcanic disaster of the 20th century after Mount Pelee in 1902.
Facts
Magnitude or ScaleVolcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) 3; lahars reached about 50 kilometers per hour 1 LocationNevado del Ruiz, Tolima, Colombia 1 Disputed
Death TollAbout 23,000 overall, more than 20,000 of them in Armero itself 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Sources
1. Armero Tragedy (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationLead sectionQuote, Lead section
This was the second-deadliest volcanic disaster of the 20th century, surpassed only by the 1902 eruption of Mount Pelee.
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