August 12, 1966 Eruption of Awu

Name: August 12, 1966 Eruption of Awu
Start: 1966-08-12
Location: Awu, Indonesia

August 12, 1966 · VEI 4 · 39 deaths

Awu in Indonesia erupted on August 12, 1966 with a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 4. The eruption killed 39 people.

Where it erupted

Awu, Indonesia, with its other significant eruptions.

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The eruption

Date: August 12, 1966
Volcano: Awu, stratovolcano
Country: Indonesia
Volcanic Explosivity Index: 4, large (eruption column 10 to 25 km)
Killed by: Pyroclastic flows, surges and direct blasts; Mudflows and lahars; Indirect deaths (disease, starvation, exposure)
Location: 3.689° N, 125.447° E

The toll

Deaths: 39
Injuries: 1,000
Houses destroyed: Some (about 51 to 100)

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.

38 killed by pyroclastic flows and lahars, one person drowned while swimming to ship. Only 1 body was found, most were covered with rocks and hot pumice flows. 1,000 were injured by the impact of ejected fragments from the lava plug. 2 villages totally destroyed, 3 partly destroyed.

Other significant eruptions of Awu

Every eruption in 1966 The 1900s Awu Earthquakes near Awu 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 589.