死亡人數最多的十大火山噴發事故(上)
t Unzen: Japan: 1792: 15,000
10.雲仙嶽（所在地：日本，噴發時間：1792年，死亡人數：15000人）Mount Unzen lies in a highly volcanic area which has seen eruptions occurring for the last 2 million years or so. The area around the mountain has formed into no less than four domes over the lifespan, and saw its worst (from a death-toll point of view) eruption striking in 1792. The volcano was actually initiated by an earthquake which started on the western flank of the mountain, slowly moving towards the active dome, known as Fugen-Dake. The seismic activity caused the volcano to erupt and the lava flowed for some two months. The earthquake continued to move westward and eventually caused the eastern flank of the mountain to collapse. The immense volume of earth moved in the landslide caused a tsunami when it hit the sea. Totting up the fatalities afterwards, it is estimated that some 5,000 people died in the landslide; another 5,000 were killed when the tsunami rushed AWAY from the area and the final 5,000 were taken when the wave 'bounced' back to its starting point.
雲仙嶽坐落於一處火山活動高度頻繁的地帶。在過去的兩百多萬年間，這裏時不時就會發生火山噴發。雲仙嶽周遭在其活動期間已經形成了至少四個火山穹丘。1792年的那場噴發造成的傷亡最爲嚴重。當時在火山西側發生了一場地震，並逐漸波及到了名爲普賢嶽的活躍穹丘。該地震活動正是釀成此次火山噴發的罪魁禍首。岩漿不斷從火山口噴涌而出，持續近兩個月。餘震繼續向西移動，並最終導致火山東側山體塌陷。大量的泥石伴隨着山體滑坡涌入海中，形成了大海嘯。根據事後的遇難人數統計，約有五千人死於山體滑坡，另有五千人在海嘯離開當地的過程中喪生，還有五千人在海浪打回岸邊時不幸遇難。
t Vesuvius: Italy: 79AD: 18,000
9.維蘇威山（所在地：意大利，噴發時間：公元79年，死亡人數：18000人）
This is perhaps one of the best known of all historic volcanic eruptions: the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum were completely covered and preserved by the ash cloud. Apart from the sad remains of men, women and children, not to mention loyal pets, we know a fair amount about the eruption as it was witnessed by Pliny the Younger, a Roman administrator and poet. The volcano gave reasonable warning of its intent to erupt with a series of ever more intense tremors occurring; sadly these were ignored by the general population as small earthquakes were considered to be just part of life in those days. The eruption of Vesuvius was intense and strong, lasting for two days and forming a relatively rare, but inescapable flow of super-heated gas and ash known as a pyroclastic flow. If Vesuvius were to erupt today the some 3 million people living in the shadow of the mountain would be in severe danger from the ash and lava, but also from the possibility of a large landslide and accompanying tsunami: a prospect that has seen the government beginning to encourage people to move away from the 'red' zone with cash incentives as well as putting into place a series of evacuation processes ready for the day when Vesuvius begins to rumble in earnest once more.
這或許是歷史上最著名的一次火山噴發事故：龐貝和赫庫蘭尼姆大大小小的城鎮被火山灰徹底掩埋，並由此保存了下來。除了那些令人心痛的男人、女人、孩子和皇室寵物的遺骸，我們還可以從親歷者小普林尼那裏對此次火山噴發有所瞭解。小普林尼是一名羅馬行政官，同時也是一位詩人。通過噴發前的一系列愈發強烈的輕微地震，火山向人們發出了嚴肅的警告，只可惜當時的人們並沒有對此多加在意。對他們而言，這種小型地震不過是家常便飯。維蘇威火山的噴發十分劇烈，持續兩天。熾熱氣體和火山灰混合在一起，形成了一種被稱爲火山碎屑流的罕見災害。人們無從逃脫。如果維蘇威火山今天再次爆發的話，在山腳下居住的近三百萬人將受到火山灰和岩漿的巨大威脅，還有可能要面臨嚴重的山體滑坡和隨之而來的海嘯。正是因爲預見到了這些，政府開始通過發放補貼來鼓勵人們搬離這塊危險區域，並落實了一系列疏散措施，唯恐哪天維蘇威火山再一次向人們發出它那低沉的轟鳴。do Del Ruiz: Colombia: 1985: 23,000
8.內瓦多·德·魯伊斯火山（所在地：哥倫比亞，噴發時間：1985年，死亡人數：23000人）
The Nevado Del Ruiz does not look like much of a threat to live and limb and yet this smallish snow-covered peak erupted explosively on November 13th in 1985, blasting some 30 kilometres into the air. Despite this show of might, the eruption was actually a relatively small one, but the heat of the lava and ash caused a lot of the nearby snow to melt, almost instantaneously, especially when the water of a nearby lake was included in the flow: the water was very salty, a factor which caused the snow to melt even faster. This sudden abundance of fluid on the flanks of the mountain could only go in one direction: down; and this it did with enthusiasm, forming four thick and fast-flowing lahars (rivers of ash, mud and volcanic debris that flow over the land, taking out everything in their paths). These four lahars flowed down the mountain and into the river valleys below, swelling the rivers to unrecognisable proportions and growing ever larger as they went. These massive bodies of water and mud travelled at around 60 kilometres per hour and, when they passed through towns and villages they simply took down all he houses and people that they encountered; being responsible for the deaths attributed to the volcano.
乍看之下，內瓦多·德·魯伊斯火山似乎並不會對人們的生存造成威脅。然而，正是這座被雪覆蓋的小山峯在1985年11月13日劇烈噴發，噴出物在空中高達約三十千米。儘管這一幕看起來威力十足，事實上這次噴發規模相對較小。然而，岩漿和火山灰所攜帶的巨大熱量幾乎在一瞬間融化了火山口周邊的大量積雪，尤其是當附近的一片湖泊也加入到融雪形成的水流中之後：由於湖水中鹽分很高，積雪會融化得更快。山坡上的流體在短時間內急劇增多，除了流向山下別無選擇。奔騰的液流匯聚成了四條厚實湍急的火山灰泥流（在地面上流動的由火山灰、泥土和火山碎屑形成的河流，會摧毀沿途的一切障礙），沿着山坡衝向低處的河谷。河面隨着火山灰泥流的涌入急遽上漲，一路上勢頭越來越猛。巨量的水體和泥土以約六十公里的時速奔涌，席捲了沿途所有的城鎮和村落。房屋和居民被悉數吞沒，導致此次火山噴發死者衆多。t Pelee: Martinique: 1902: 33,000
7.培雷火山（所在地：馬提尼克島，噴發時間：1902年，死亡人數：33000人）
Mount Pelee(Montagne Pelee in French, which translates to Bald Mountain) stands on the small island of Martinique, which is in the island arc of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean: an area known for frequent volcanic and seismic activity. The 1902 eruption seemed to take place fairly slowly, starting about a week before the main eruptions with tremors, and continuing for over two weeks until the main eruption occurred. With all that notice, one would be forgiven for assuming that everyone would have fled the area long before the main event, but this was not the case. Some people refused to leave their homes, farms, animals and possessions, while others left for a day or two, but returned again when little happened with the volcano. When the main eruption did happen (one eye-witness described the eruption thus: 'The mountain was blown to pieces, there was no warning.'), the people left in the main town of Saint-Pierre were killed by an extremely fast moving, and very hot, pyroclastic flow that streamed down the mountain in mere minutes.
培雷火山（法語名Montagne Pelee，意爲禿頭山）坐落在名爲馬提尼克的小島上。馬提尼克島是加勒比海小安地列斯羣島的島弧：這一帶因其頻繁的火山和地震活動而聞名。1902年發生的那場火山噴發事故節奏似乎比較緩慢。在大爆發到來約一週前，火山就開始有了輕微的震顫，直到大爆發結束兩週後才真正停歇下來。你也許會想，這麼明顯的徵兆，人們肯定都在大爆發前逃得遠遠的了。但事實並非如此。有些人拒絕撇下他們的房屋、農場、家畜和財產，其他人看到火山並沒有什麼大動作，離開一兩天後便紛紛返回。據一位目擊者描述，當大爆發真正來臨時，“整座山被炸成了碎片，毫無預兆。”滾燙的火山碎屑流飛速撲向聖皮埃爾的主城區，留在那裏的居民全都因此喪了命。這一切的發生只花了短短几分鐘。atoa: Indonesia: 1883: 36,000
6.喀拉喀托火山（所在地：印度尼西亞，噴發時間：1883年，死亡人數：36000人）
Krakatoa signalled the beginning of its eruption in the years preceding the big eruption. In May 1883 the volcano seemed to display greater intent of erupting with ever-more intense tremors, small eruptions and huge plumes of gas. On the 27th of August the island erupted violently in a series of four explosions. So intense and violent was the eruption that the shockwave travelled all the way around the planet, not once or twice, but seven times and was heard as far away as Australia and the island of Rodrigues (near Mauritius): a distance of some 3,000 miles. The sheer violence of the eruption had knock-on consequences all over the world, causing floods and famines near and far. While the official and immediate death toll has been pegged at 36,000 experts say that as many as some 120,000 people may, in fact, have died as a result of the volcano.
喀拉喀托火山在大爆發幾年前就向外界發出了信號。1883年5月，火山震顫變得越來越強烈，小規模的噴發和巨大煙塵柱的出現也變得愈發頻繁，這似乎都是火山在展示自己愈發明確的噴發意圖。8月27日，伴隨着四聲爆炸聲，整座島嶼都開始猛地噴發起來。一切都是那樣的猛烈，以至於形成的衝擊波繞着地球轉了不止一兩圈，而是整整七圈，甚至遠在三千英里之外的澳大利亞和羅德里格斯島（近毛里求斯）都能聽到爆炸聲。劇烈的火山噴發在全世界範圍內造成了一系列連鎖反應，遠近許多地方都發生了洪水和饑荒。雖然官方認定此次噴發的直接遇難者爲36,000人，但專家們表示事實上總共約有120,000人死於喀拉喀托火山的噴發及其次生災害。翻譯:李聞昱 校對:有耳陳小樹 來源:前十網
