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What are the largest volcanic eruptions in history?

Scientists measure the size of volcanic eruptions by the amount of ash and other material a volcano spews into the air. Using this method, scientists have determined that the largest eruptions (beginning with the largest) include one in Wyoming at Yellowstone Park in about 600,000 B.C.; an eruption in Toba, Indonesia, in about 74,000 B.C.; an eruption in Santorini, Greece, in 1470 B.C.; an eruption in Tambora, Indonesia, in about 1815; an eruption at Laki, Iceland, in 1783; and an eruption in Krakatau (also spelled Krakatoe), Indonesia, in 1883.

The eruption at Yellowstone left a crater measuring 30 miles by 45 miles (48 kilometers by 72 kilometers) and releasing large amounts of volcanic ash into the air. Other large eruptions ejected only 10 percent of that amount of material. When Mount St. Helens, a volcano in southwestern Washington State, erupted...

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1. Natural Disasters
   1. What are the largest volcanic eruptions in history?
   2. What were the deadliest volcanic eruptions in history?
   3. What is the strongest earthquake measured?
   4. What is the strongest earthquake in a city?
   5. What was the most damaging earthquake in history?
   6. How disastrous was the San Francisco earthquake?
   7. How often have tidal waves happened?
   8. Has a tidal wave ever hit the United States?
   9. What were the deadliest tropical storms in the world?
   10. What was the worst hurricane in U.S. history?
   11. Which hurricane caused the most damage?
   12. How long have hurricanes had names?
   13. Which country has the worst floods?
   14. When was the Johnstown Flood?
   15. What were the harshest blizzards to hit the United States?
   16. What was the Dust Bowl and what effect did it have?
   17. What were the worst famines in history?
   18. How much damage was done by the Great Fire of London?
2. Man-Made Disasters
   1. Was the Chicago fire really started by a cow?
   2. What was the impact of the fire at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas?
   3. What happened at the Tacoma Narrows Bridge?
   4. What is the true story of the Titanic?
   5. Was the Titanic the most disastrous shipwreck in history?
   6. What effect did the sinking of the Titanic have?
   7. What happened to the Hindenburg?
   8. What is the worst airplane crash in history?
   9. What happened to the spacecraft Apollo 13?
   10. Why did the space shuttle Challenger explode?
   11. What was Love Canal?
   12. What happened at Three Mile Island?
   13. What was the worst industrial accident in world history?
   14. What caused the nuclear accident at Chernobyl?
   15. Was the World Trade Center bombing really part of a larger terrorist plan?
   16. Was the Oklahoma City bombing the worst act of terrorism on U.S. soil?