Indonesia
A massive supervolcano erupted at present-day Lake Toba around 70,000 BCE. It is believed to have caused a global volcanic winter and cooling of the climate, and subsequently led to a genetic bottleneck in human evolution, though this is still debated. The 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora and the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa were among the largest in recorded history. The former resulted in 92,000 deaths and created an umbrella of volcanic ash which spread and blanketed parts of the archipelago, and made much of Northern Hemisphere without summer in 1816. The latter produced the loudest sound in recorded history, and resulted in 36,000 deaths that are attributed to the eruption itself and the tsunamis it created. Significant additional effects were also felt around the world years after the eruption. Recent major disasters due to seismic activity include the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and the 2006 Yogyakarta earthquake.
List of earthquakes in 1950
This is a list of earthquakes in 1950. Only magnitude 6.0 or greater earthquakes appear on the list. Lower magnitude events are included if they have caused death, injury or damage. Events which occurred in remote areas will be excluded from the list as they wouldn't have generated significant media interest. All dates are listed according to UTC time. The main event which dominated the year in terms of magnitude and deaths was the earthquake which struck India in August. With a magnitude of 8.6, it was one of the largest earthquakes of all time, and affected the eastern part of the country. There were 1,530 deaths, which was around three quarters of the yearly total. A number of other deadly events struck Colombia, Venezuela and Peru. There were 21 magnitude 7.0+ quakes. Aside from India, Chile was hit by a magnitude 8.2 event in December that left one person dead. Aftershock sequences contributed to a large number of magnitude 6.0–6.9 events, especially in India and Vanuatu (which also saw four magnitude 7.0+ quakes). Monthly summaries are included for the first time due to a rise in events being recorded and will continue to be featured every year from now.