April 30, 1871 Eruption of Camiguin

One account says nearby townspeople fled during frequent earthquake activity, so there were very few victims even though destruction reached Catarman. Another says very considerable number of victims. (reference #9675)

In the first months of this year [1871], about February 16, earthquakes became very frequent; shortly after

the inhabitants of Mambajao and Catarman became convinced that the radiating center of the seismic disturbance was located in their little island, and not very far distant in the same mountain, whose fertile side, covered with verdure, had never been suspected of harboring a dangerous enemy...

On the 21st [Feb] at 4 o’clock a. m. a violent earthquake shook the island, causing considerable

damage to the stone buildings. On the flank of the mountain the sight was dreadful. The rolling masses of stone were destroying trees and plantations, while the opening

of fissures caused a noise like that of a great storm. The inhabitants of the town were terrified and from this moment began to escape in their boats to the neighboring

coasts of Mindanao and Bohol in search of safety...

During the months of March and April earthquakes succeeded one another with the same frequency and

were accompanied by effects identical with those just described... The inhabitants of the towns in the neighborhood of Mt. Catarman, with the exception of a few of the bolder spirits and some of the very poor, fled from their houses. Hence it is that when the eruption actually took place it found very few victims.

At last the shocks suddenly ceased. When day broke on April 30, at the foot of Mt. Catarman, which had been so shaken by the preceding earthquakes that it exposed its skeleton through the landslides and fissures, a column of thick vapor was seen rising up into the sky near the sea and about 400 yards distant from the town of Catarman. This column of vapor disappeared completely some hours afterwards.

At about 7 p. m. of the same day a tremendous explosion was heard in the direction of the above-mentioned spot, accompanied by a dense cloud of smoke, which came from the same place. Everything roundabout

was set on fire. At the same time a shower of stones, earth, and ashes was vomited forth from the recently made openings. The ashes rose to a considerable height, spreading out and reaching Cebu and other islands 110 miles away. Within a radius of 2 miles from the new crater the destruction caused by the shower of fire, stones, earth,

and ashes was almost complete; but fortunately there is no report of many human victims, evidently because the inhabitants of Catarman, which the destruction reached, had fled in due time to safer quarters. The eruption continued for six or seven days, after which the paroxysm died down, but the silent flowing of the semifluid lava continued,

building up a rough cone, which in two or three weeks' time

measured some eight feet in height...

(above from reference #2070)