How Many People Died In Mount St Helen Eruption In 1980?
The Mount St Helen eruption which occurred in the year 1980 claimed the lives of around fifty seven people and thousands of animals. The Mount St Helen eruption is regarded as the most noteworthy volcanic eruption to take place in the lower forty eight US states in documented history. The eruption was followed by a two-month long string of earthquakes and steam-venting episodes. These strings of reactions occurred because of injection of magma at shallow depth level, beneath the mountain which produced a huge bulge and a fracture system towards the Mount St Helen’s northern slope. An earthquake which occurred on 8:32 am on May 18th, 1980 caused the whole destabilized north face to slither away. This resulted in exposing the partially molten, gas and steam-rich rock in present in the volcano to lower pressure which resulted in the eruption.
