August 23, 2000 Eruption of Arenal
Arenal in Costa Rica erupted on August 23, 2000 with a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 3. The eruption killed 2 people.
Where it erupted
Arenal, Costa Rica, with its other significant eruptions.
The eruption
- Date
- August 23, 2000
- Volcano
- Arenal, stratovolcano
- Country
- Costa Rica
- Volcanic Explosivity Index
- 3, moderate to large (eruption column 3 to 15 km)
- Killed by
- Pyroclastic flows, surges and direct blasts
- Location
- 10.463° N, 84.703° W
The toll
- Deaths
- 2
- Injuries
- 1
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.
A guide and two tourists were engulfed in a pyroclastic flow 2.3 km from the summit; the guide died that night, and one of the tourists, a young girl, died of burns about two weeks later. (reference #9675)
Other significant eruptions of Arenal
More
Every eruption in 2000The 2000sArenalEarthquakes near ArenalThis 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 6606.