1430 Eruption of Kuwae
Kuwae in Vanuatu erupted in 1430.
Where it erupted
Kuwae, Vanuatu, with its other significant eruptions.
The eruption
The toll
- Deaths
- Many (about 101 to 1,000)
Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
Pyroclastic-flow deposits on southern Tonga associated with formation of Kuwae caldera contain human remains. The eruption may have also been the source for palaeotsunami deposits found in Kaituna Bay, Mimiwhangata, in northern New Zealand. (reference #10953, 2432, 1412 & 9675). No VEI assigned by #2432 & 10953
[The Kuwae eruption of 1452/ 1453 AD]has been assigned a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 7, and was larger than the Tambora eruption of 1815 AD (Self, 2006). Its eruption led to the formation of a 12 km long and 6 km wide oval-shaped submarine caldera with two distinct basins and a total area of 60 km2 at the level of the rim (Monzicr ct al., 1994 ). It had a minimum 100 km3 of pyroclastic deposits and eruptive mass of 1 x 10t 4 (Witter and Self, 2007; SclC 2006; Gao et aL. 2006). (reference #7281)
Other significant eruptions of Kuwae
More
Sources
Volcanoes and significant eruptions from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. Volcano numbers are the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program’s. NCEI event 4449.