10 DEADLIEST Explosions in Human History

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at the most lethal explosions the world has ever fallen victim to. For our criteria, we’re including both natural eruptions and man-made blasts.

Bhopal Disaster (1984)

First on our list is the deadliest industrial disaster in human history. In Bhopal, India, in 1984, a pesticide plant had an extremely fatal gas leak. When the leak was initially discovered, management thought it was just a water leak. Within a few hours, a terrifying amount of gas had built up, causing immense pressure. The tank broke in the night, and roughly half a million locals were exposed to this poisonous gas, with over 3,500 dying almost immediately. Estimates claim there have been more than 15,000 more deaths since then, but the true death toll will be impossible to verify.

Chernobyl (1986)

In 1986, in the Ukrainian SSR, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant suffered a horrific catastrophe. Poor management led to inexperienced operators performing a test that resulted in its meltdown. Just after 1am, Chernobyl Reactor 4 exploded and destroyed its entire building. 30 people were killed due to the effects of the immediate blast, but the true number of lives lost will never be known. The figure ranges from 4,000 to 16,000 people, with some even going as high as 60,000. At least 350,000 people had to be evacuated from the area, and the area still isn’t safe to live in.

Armero Tragedy (1985)

Volcanoes are terrifying works of nature. Upon eruption, they’ll release tons of perilous lava, ash, and gas. In 1985, the Colombian stratovolcano Nevado del Ruiz erupted, bringing death and disaster upon the nearby town of Armero. Estimates believe at least 23,000 people lost their lives, but many blame the government rather than the volcano. This is because scientists had warned them of their impending doom, but the government ignored these warnings. Thirteen villages other than Armero were affected, making it one of the deadliest eruptions in human history. It still erupts fairly regularly, but thankfully the government has started to take it a lot more seriously following this event.

Unzen Eruptions (1792)

Mount Unzen lies upon the coast of Kyushu, one of Japan’s westernmost islands. It’s still fairly active and, in 1972, resulted in Japan’s worst volcanic disaster. One of its immense lava domes collapsed due to earthquakes, which then led to a landslide. This in turn caused a tsunami, which devastated the nearby city of Shimabara. Since it was so long ago, we can’t get an accurate death toll. Historians estimate that at least 15,000 people died, mainly due to the tsunami and landslide. So, the explosion itself wasn’t particularly deadly, but it led to a diabolical domino effect, which wreaked havoc upon Kyushu.

Laki Eruptions (1783-84)

This explosion was so immense that it altered global temperatures, causing crop failures and droughts in places as far as India. Most of Iceland is inhospitable, with volcanoes being a major factor. One of their worst volcanic disasters began in June 1783, when the Laki fissure began erupting. It wouldn’t stop for 8 months, causing 120 million tonnes of sulfur dioxide to be released. This had a domino effect, which scientists believe caused droughts and crop failures globally. In Iceland, roughly 9,500 people died, alongside 50% of their livestock. Many of these deaths were due to the famine that followed. It was an immense tragedy, and it’s unclear how many lives were lost outside of Iceland due to its effects.

Mount Pelée (1902)

Our next eruption took place in the Caribbean, in the Lesser Antilles. From April 1902 until 1905, Mount Pelée displayed the most activity we’ve ever seen. It made its way to the nearby city of Saint-Pierre, causing the deaths of almost all 28,000 residents during May 1902. Most of these people lost their lives within 3 minutes, on May 8th, 1902, when a 100 miles per hour cloud of gas was unleashed on the island. It’s believed only three survived this ordeal. A further 2,000 deaths were caused later in May, many of them rescuers. It went down in history as the deadliest volcanic eruption of the 20th century.

Krakatoa (1883)

The island of Krakatoa lies in the Sunda Strait, Indonesia. It’s one of the most infamous volcanic islands, as in 1883, it caused the loudest recorded sound in human history. On 27th August, 1883, it experienced its most violent eruption. It was so loud, they could hear it in Perth, Western Australia. It caused a plethora of tsunamis and disasters, leading to over 36,417 confirmed deaths. The explosion was so vast that it was roughly 13,000 times the size of Little Boy’s, the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The eruption caused a massive shift in the island of Krakatoa’s geography, destroying roughly 70% of it.

Nagasaki (1945)

Atomic bombs are the most destructive weapons ever created, by a significant margin. They’ve been used in warfare twice, both occasions being in August 1945 against Imperial Japan. America first bombed Hiroshima on August 6th, then Nagasaki on August 9th. The latter explosion killed somewhere between 60,000 and 80,000 people in the immediate blast. The majority of them were civilians. Nagasaki was the least damaged of the two cities, largely due to its geography and the bomb exploding in an industrial area. That doesn’t make it any less horrific, however. It’s impossible to calculate how many deaths it caused in the decades following, but we can say for certain that it would be a horrendous figure.

Mount Tambora (1815)

Indonesia is a region with a variety of active volcanoes, such as Mount Tambora in Sumbawa. In 1815, it was responsible for the deadliest volcanic eruption ever recorded. It began in 1812 but peaked in April 1815. It erupted so violently that it reduced worldwide temperatures, causing a year without a summer in 1816. Around 10,000 people were killed directly by the eruption, but somewhere between 49,000 and 90,000 died in the post-eruption fallout. This is what earns it the title of deadliest recorded eruption, with the highest estimates claiming over a quarter of a million people lost their lives.

Hiroshima (1945)

For the majority of human history, volcanoes have been the source of Earth’s most violent explosions. Comparing the destructive capabilities of volcanoes to man-made atomic bombs is harrowing. The bomb dropped in Hiroshima in 1945 resulted in the deaths of between 90,000 and 166,000 people, most of them civilians. For decades afterwards, thousands suffered from health complications caused by the disaster. This makes it impossible to calculate how many lives were lost. It was truly one of the most violent acts of war ever perpetrated. Hopefully, it’ll never be outdone, as nuclear weapons are so powerful now, the consequences would be even more appalling.

Were there any other especially destructive explosions we forgot to include? Let us know in the comments below!