August 27, 1717 Eruption of Fuego

Name: August 27, 1717 Eruption of Fuego
Start: 1717-08-27
Location: Fuego, Guatemala

August 27, 1717 · VEI 4 · Deaths: some · 3,000 houses destroyed

Fuego in Guatemala erupted on August 27, 1717 with a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 4. It caused a tsunami.

Where it erupted

Fuego, Guatemala, with its other significant eruptions.

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The eruption

Date: August 27, 1717
Volcano: Fuego, stratovolcano
Country: Guatemala
Volcanic Explosivity Index: 4, large (eruption column 10 to 25 km)
Killed by: Seismic, or volcanic earthquake (tectonic earthquake deaths excluded)
Tsunami: Yes: the tsunami it caused
Earthquake: Yes: the earthquake with it
Location: 14.473° N, 90.880° W

The toll

Deaths: Some (about 51 to 100) with the tsunamis, mudflows and other effects it caused
Damage: Limited (under about $1 million); Severe (about $5 to $25 million) with the tsunamis, mudflows and other effects it caused
Houses destroyed: 3,000 with the tsunamis, mudflows and other effects it caused

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.

Eruptive Characteristics: Explosive eruption, Damage (land, property, etc.), Evacuation. (reference #2432)

Reference #14059 [note: translation from original Spanish supported by AI tools]:

August 18 and November, eruption of the Fuego volcano, tremors on 29 and 30 September and 4 October with damage in the capital (San Miguel tremors).

San Miguel earthquakes sequence of several seismic and volcanic events occurred between August and October 1717. Initially there was an eruption of the Fuego volcano, possible strombolian and volcanic phases, apparently culminating on 28 September, and on 29 September, between 18 and 21 hours, three strong earthquakes occurred, successively increasing in violence and intensity.

Other significant eruptions of Fuego

Every eruption in 1717 The 1700s Fuego Earthquakes near Fuego This day in weather history

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 3551.