How Many People Died in the Kilauea Eruption?

By Staff WriterLast Updated December 07, 2023

As of 2014, the Kilauea Volcano has been continuously erupting for 31 years. The volcano has been directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people.

Kilauea is considered the most deadly volcano in the United States since the country’s founding. In 1975, an earthquake within Kilauea caused a tsunami that killed two campers, and a photographer was killed in 1924 by falling rocks from the volcano. In 1868, an earthquake in or near Kilauea caused more than 40 deaths along its coastline and another 31 in Wood Valley. Two others perished in a rock fall. The caldera exploded in 1790 killing approximately 100 people, which makes that eruption the deadliest in U.S. history.