Page 92 - The Truth of the Life of This World

miles away and creating tsunamis up to 125 feet high. The waves razed
165 coastal villages and killed 36,000 people. 5
Volcanoes are memorable not only for their tragically high death tolls
but also because they erupt in extremely destructive ways that cannot be
predicted. The eruption of Nevado Del Ruiz is an example. This was an
eruption of minor intensity. In comparison, its intensity was only 3% of the
eruption of Mount St Helens. After being dormant for 150 years, Nevado
Del Ruiz erupted in 1985 melting the snow and ice on its summit. So dev-
astating was the lahar, or river of mud, that flowed down the volcano's
slopes and into the Lagunille River valley, that some 20,000 residents in
Armero, Colombia perished, entombed in hot mud as they slept. This event
was the worst volcanic disaster since Mount Pelee annihilated St Pierre in
1902. Mount Pelee claimed 30,000 lives when it sent a nuee ardente, or
pyroclastic flow, into the town of St Pierre. 6
Allah demonstrates how suddenly man can meet his death by means of
such disasters and thereby calls on him to ponder the purpose of his exis-
tence on earth. These incidents send a "warning". What is expected in
return from man, who can conceive of his Almighty Creator, is not to

(Left) A volcano erupting.
(Below) The bus in the
middle of the sea of lava
reminds one of the Pom-
peii disaster.

90 Natural Hazards and Disasters