In contrast, only 57 people were killed in the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption, largely because of its remote location and the effectiveness of public warnings. As important as large eruptions appear locally, they are still relatively small compared to our next larger size classification of major eruptions. Major volcanic eruptions. These eruptions are often caldera -type eruptions. Everything about major eruptions must be written in superlatives.
Major eruptions are incredibly destructive.
Tambora spread thick layers of ash and floating islands of pumice across 2000 miles of Indonesia. Superheated steam and ash from Krakatoa's main blast killed and burned people 30 to 40 miles away on the Sumatra coast. Krakatoa also spawned tidal waves over 100 feet high that swept the coasts of Java and Sumatra, claiming most of the 37,000 lives lost in that eruption. Major eruptions are incredibly loud. Noises from the eruption of Tambora in Indonesia in 1815 were mistaken for nearby canon fire in European settlements 200 and 750 miles away from the volcano itself.