April 17, 1997 Eruption of Karangetang
Karangetang in Indonesia erupted on April 17, 1997 with a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 1. The eruption killed 3 people.
Where it erupted
Karangetang, Indonesia, with its other significant eruptions.
The eruption
- Date
- April 17, 1997
- Volcano
- Karangetang, stratovolcano
- Country
- Indonesia
- Volcanic Explosivity Index
- 1, small (eruption column 100 m to 1 km)
- Killed by
- Pyroclastic flows, surges and direct blasts
- Location
- 2.781° N, 125.407° E
The toll
- Deaths
- 3
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.
On 17 April the Bureau of Meteorology in Darwin received a report from the Volcanological Survey of Indonesia of an ongoing eruption at Karangetang; however, the plume height could not be observed because of cloud cover, and no plume was seen in later satellite imagery. The Societe de Volcanologie de Geneve (SVG) reported that explosions and pyroclastic flows in June required the evacuation of 400 people from a village. They further reported that this eruptive episode claimed the lives of three people. The last reported activity consisted of daily ash explosions during October 1996.
Other significant eruptions of Karangetang
More
Every eruption in 1997The 1900sKarangetangEarthquakes near KarangetangThis 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 4744.