1660 Eruption of Long Island
Long Island in Papua New Guinea erupted in 1660 with a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 6. The eruption killed 2,000 people. It caused a tsunami.
Where it erupted
Long Island, Papua New Guinea, with its other significant eruptions.
The eruption
- Date
- 1660
- Volcano
- Long Island, complex volcano
- Country
- Papua New Guinea
- Volcanic Explosivity Index
- 6, paroxysmal (eruption column over 25 km)
- Killed by
- Tephra (ash, bombs, lapilli, steam blasts); Pyroclastic flows, surges and direct blasts; Waves or tsunami; Indirect deaths (disease, starvation, exposure)
- Tsunami
- Yes: the tsunami it caused
- Location
- 5.358° S, 147.120° E
The toll
- Deaths
- 2,000
- Damage
- Severe (about $5 to $25 million)
- Houses destroyed
- Many (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.
1660 +/- 20 years? 2000? deaths. Impossible to give accurate estimate of deaths. Legends on Long Island report deaths in pyroclastic flows and tsunamis. On Papua New Guinea mainland widespread legends report deaths as a result of house collapse and starvation. (reference #9675)
A catastrophic eruption from Long Island deposited tephra across the New Guinea highlands, prompting legends of a "Time of Darkness." Some 14C dates suggest this eruption took place between 1640 and 1680 CE. Large pyroclastic flows from this eruption are thought to be associated with a third phase of caldera collapse at Long Island. (reference #13971)
Other significant eruptions of Long Island
More
Every eruption in 1660The 1600sLong IslandEarthquakes near Long Island
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 1357.