20 Times Nature Wiped Entire Communities Off the Map

Pompeii is undoubtedly the most famous example of a community frozen in time by a catastrophe. In 79 A.D., Mount Vesuvius erupted and buried the Roman city under ash and volcanic debris. Many residents did not have time to escape. The city remained buried for centuries before excavations revealed its streets, houses, shops, and the striking casts of the people who perished there.

Herculaneum was destroyed during the same eruption of Vesuvius that buried Pompeii, but its fate unfolded differently in several respects. Instead of being covered mainly by ash, it was submerged by hot volcanic material that preserved wood, food, furniture, and even scrolls. The city vanished beneath thick layers of solidified debris. Today, it offers historians a remarkable glimpse into Roman life, cut short in an instant.

Akrotiri was a Bronze Age settlement on the island of Santorini that was buried by a massive volcanic eruption around the 2nd millennium B.C. The eruption was so violent that it reshaped the island and affected communities throughout the region. Unlike Pompeii, few human remains have been found at the site, suggesting that many people may have escaped before the worst happened; nevertheless, the city itself was engulfed and preserved beneath the volcanic ash.

Port Royal was once a prosperous and infamous Caribbean port, known for its trade, privateers, and lively atmosphere. In 1692, a violent earthquake struck the city, causing much of it to collapse into the sea. Buildings, streets, and residents vanished as the ground liquefied beneath their feet. What had been one of the liveliest places in the Caribbean turned into underwater ruins almost overnight.

The village of San Juan Parangaricutiro was destroyed after the Parícutin volcano suddenly erupted in 1943. Lava gradually covered the village, forcing the residents to abandon their homes. The bell tower of the village church still stands dramatically in the middle of the field of solidified lava. This is one of the few disasters in which people had time to leave, but the village itself could not be saved.

Plymouth was the capital of Montserrat until the Soufrière Hills volcano erupted in the 1990s. Pyroclastic flows and ash buried much of the city, rendering it uninhabitable. Residents were evacuated, and the southern part of the island was declared an exclusion zone. 

Saint-Pierre was considered the cultural heart of Martinique before the 1902 eruption of Mount Pelée. A deadly volcanic cloud swept through the city at a terrifying speed, killing nearly everyone in its path. The destruction was so complete that Saint-Pierre never regained its former status. This event remains one of the deadliest volcanic disasters in modern history.

Armero was a town in Colombia that was destroyed in 1985 following the eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano. The eruption melted the snow and ice, triggering massive mudflows—known as lahars—that rushed toward the town. Tens of thousands of people lost their lives, many because the warnings were unclear, came too late, or were not heeded in time. 

Craco did not vanish in a single dramatic moment, but nature has nonetheless caused the town to cease to exist as a living community. Landslides, earthquakes, and unstable ground made this medieval village perched on a hill increasingly dangerous. The residents were gradually relocated throughout the 20th century. Today, Craco stands abandoned, both magnificent and eerie, attracting visitors eager to discover a town from which nature has slowly driven out the inhabitants.

Saint-Jean-Vianney, in Quebec, was destroyed by a massive landslide in 1971 after the unstable layers of clay beneath the town collapsed. Homes were swallowed up by the landslide, dozens of people lost their lives, and the remaining residents were permanently relocated. Since authorities deemed the area too dangerous to rebuild in, the community was effectively wiped off the map as an inhabited town. 

Valdez’s original town was devastated by the 1964 Alaska earthquake, one of the most powerful ever recorded. A massive undersea landslide and a tsunami destroyed the waterfront and claimed the lives of many residents. The damage made the original site too dangerous to use again, so the survivors rebuilt the town several kilometers away, on safer ground.

Yungay was destroyed in 1970 after a violent earthquake triggered a massive avalanche from Mount Huascarán. Ice, rocks, and mud poured down at an incredible speed, burying the town and thousands of people. Only a few residents survived, often because they happened to be on higher ground. The old town was left as it was to serve as a memorial, while a new town of Yungay was built nearby.

Balestrino was gradually abandoned due to landslides and soil instability. The old village had existed for centuries, but ground movements made it too dangerous for residents to live there. In the mid-20th century, the residents were relocated to a safer area.

Te Wairoa, sometimes called the “buried village,” was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Tarawera in 1886. The eruption buried the village under volcanic ash and debris, killing many residents and wiping out a thriving community. It also destroyed the famous pink and white terraces, once considered a natural wonder. 

Greensburg was almost entirely destroyed by a devastating tornado in 2007. The storm ravaged most of the city, leaving homes, businesses, and public buildings in ruins. Unlike some of the other towns on this list, Greensburg chose to rebuild using a sustainable approach.

Indianola was once an important port on the Texas coast, but the city was struck by hurricanes on several occasions. A devastating storm in 1875 severely damaged the city, and another in 1886 finished what the first had started. The residents eventually gave up on rebuilding it, and Indianola faded into obscurity. 

Galveston wasn’t wiped off the map, but the 1900 hurricane nearly destroyed the city and claimed the lives of thousands of people. At the time, it was one of Texas’s most important cities, with grand ambitions as a port and commercial hub, but the disaster led to a shift in economic activity toward Houston. Galveston was rebuilt, but the community that existed before the storm was never quite the same again.

Rungholt was a medieval trading village located on the North Sea coast that was destroyed by a massive storm surge in 1362. This disaster, sometimes referred to as the “Grote Mandrenke,” engulfed vast tracts of land and claimed many lives. For centuries, Rungholt remained both a place of remembrance and a legend, as virtually no visible traces of it remained.

Dhanushkodi was a small town located at the southeastern tip of India before a cyclone devastated it in 1964. The storm destroyed the railroad, homes, and much of the town, claiming many lives. Subsequently, the government declared the town uninhabitable.

The eruption of the Toba supervolcano, located in what is now Indonesia, was one of the largest volcanic eruptions in human history. About 74,000 years ago, it spewed enormous quantities of ash into the atmosphere and triggered a volcanic winter that lasted six years, significantly reducing early human populations.