January 24, 1817 Eruption of Ijen

Name: January 24, 1817 Eruption of Ijen
Start: 1817-01-24
Location: Ijen, Indonesia

January 24, 1817 · VEI 2 · Deaths: some · 90 houses destroyed

Ijen in Indonesia erupted on January 24, 1817 with a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 2.

Where it erupted

Ijen, Indonesia, with its other significant eruptions.

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The eruption

Date: January 24, 1817
Volcano: Ijen, stratovolcano
Country: Indonesia
Volcanic Explosivity Index: 2, moderate (eruption column 1 to 5 km)
Killed by: Mudflows and lahars
Location: 8.058° S, 114.242° E

The toll

Deaths: Some (about 51 to 100)
Houses destroyed: 90

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.

CAVW mentions casualties but provides no further information. Kusumadinata (1979) mentions 3 villages completely destroyed, 90 houses destroyed, and about 400 cattle killed, but gives no human fatalities. Neall notes many casualties from lahars produced by collapse of crater lake. (reference #9675)

Other significant eruptions of Ijen

Every eruption in 1817 The 1800s Ijen Earthquakes near Ijen 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 333.