May 8: On This Day in World History … briefly
There are unnamed eyewitnesses to the eruption, probably survivors on the boats at the time of the eruption. One eyewitness said 'the mountain was blown to pieces, there was no warning' while another said 'it was like a giant oil refinery.' One person even went as far to say that 'the town vanished before our eyes.'
1902: Only two inhabitants survive volcano eruption
The town of St Pierre on the Caribbean island of Matinique is obliterated within minutes as Mt Pelée erupts. Montagne Pelée means ‘bald mountain’ or ‘peeled’ mountain and its volcanic cone is composed of stratified layers of hardened ash and solidified lava. The volcano is currently in a quiescent state, which means it is not active, but still registering minor activity.
The stratovolcano is famous for its eruption in 1902 and the complete destruction that resulted, dubbed the worst volcanic disaster of the early 20th century. The eruption killed about 30 000 people. Most deaths were caused by pyroclastic flows which destroyed the city of Saint-Pierre (at that time, the largest city on the island), within minutes of the eruption.
The main eruption, on May 8, 1902, left only two survivors in the direct path of the blast flow: Louis-Auguste Sylbaris survived because he was in a poorly ventilated, dungeon-like jail cell; Léon Compère-Léandre, living on the edge of the city, escaped with severe burns. Havivra da Ifrile, a young girl, reportedly escaped with injuries during the eruption by taking a small boat to a cave down the shore, and was later found adrift 3km (1.9 miles) from the island, unconscious. The event marked the only major volcanic disaster in the history of France and its overseas territories.
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
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