Primary effects

• Volcanic blast: Explosive blasts from volcanic eruptions carry rock debris at high speed and cause widespread devastation
• Lava flows: Molten rock flowing from volcanoes during the eruption will crush, burn and bury everything in its path
• Ashfalls: Ash thrown high into the air during an eruption falls to Earth covering everything beneath it, including towns and farmland, over a wide area
• Pyroclastic flows: Avalanches of hot ash, fragments of rock and superheated gas destroy everything in their path and can cause great loss of life
• Earthquakes: May be triggered by violent volcanic eruptions
• Buildings and roads are destroyed by lava flows and pyroclastic flows - buildings also collapse if enough ash falls on them
• People and animals are injured or killed, mainly by pyroclastic flows but also by lava flows and falling rocks
• Crops are damaged and water supplies are contaminated when ash falls on them
• People, animals and plants are suffocated by carbon dioxide