# Canonical recap data for Eruption of Mount Pelée (1902)
# Source: https://recap.at/1902/mount-pelee-eruption-1902
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: mount-pelee-eruption-1902
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1902/mount-pelee-eruption-1902"
title: Eruption of Mount Pelée
aliases:
- Mount Pelee eruption
- Saint-Pierre disaster
- Nuée ardente of 1902
- Pelée 1902
subtitle: A pyroclastic surge obliterates the city of Saint-Pierre in seconds, killing 29,000 and defining a new volcanic hazard.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1902-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 1902
decade: 1900
country:
name: Martinique
slug: martinique
summaryShort: Éruption volcanique à la Martinique, released in the United States as The Eruption of Mount Pelee and in Britain as The Terrible Eruption of Mount Pelée and Destruction of St. Pierre, Martinique, is a 1902 French short silent film directed by Georges Méliès. The film is a short reconstruction, using miniature models, o
summaryLong: "Éruption volcanique à la Martinique, released in the United States as The Eruption of Mount Pelee and in Britain as The Terrible Eruption of Mount Pelée and Destruction of St. Pierre, Martinique, is a 1902 French short silent film directed by Georges Méliès. The film is a short reconstruction, using miniature models, of a recent historical event: the eruption on 8 May 1902 of Mount Pelée, which destroyed the town of Saint-Pierre, Martinique."
lede: On May 8, 1902, Mount Pelée in Martinique erupted catastrophically, destroying the city of Saint-Pierre in minutes with a superheated blast of gas and rock. Nearly 30,000 people died—virtually the entire population of the Caribbean's then-largest city—making it one of the deadliest volcanic events in recorded history.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/50/%C3%89ruption_volcanique_%C3%A0_la_Martinique_M%C3%A9li%C3%A8s.jpg/1280px-%C3%89ruption_volcanique_%C3%A0_la_Martinique_M%C3%A9li%C3%A8s.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "The Eruption of Mount Pelee"
importance: 82
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Death toll
  value: Approximately 29,000 people
- label: Date of eruption
  value: May 8, 1902
- label: Location
  value: Saint-Pierre, Martinique
- label: Pyroclastic flow temperature
  value: Estimated 1,000°C (1,832°F)
- label: Survivors in Saint-Pierre
  value: Approximately 3 (out of ~30,000)
- label: Distance pyroclastic flow traveled
  value: 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) in seconds
- label: Type of eruption phenomenon
  value: Nuée ardente (glowing avalanche)
- label: Economic status of Saint-Pierre before eruption
  value: Largest city in the Caribbean and major commercial hub
timeline:
- date: 1902-04-23
  title: Initial volcanic activity
  description: Mount Pelée begins showing signs of activity with small explosions and ash emissions, causing concern among Saint-Pierre's residents.
- date: 1902-05-02
  title: Preliminary eruptions intensify
  description: Increased seismic activity and larger ash columns prompt authorities to discuss evacuation plans, though many residents remain in the city despite warnings.
- date: 1902-05-08
  title: Catastrophic eruption
  description: "At approximately 7:52 AM, Mount Pelée undergoes a major explosive event, releasing a pyroclastic flow (nuée ardente) that reaches Saint-Pierre in seconds, destroying the city and killing nearly all inhabitants."
- date: 1902-05-09
  title: Rescue and assessment operations begin
  description: Ships arrive from neighboring islands to assess the destruction. The city is found almost completely obliterated, with few survivors identified among the ruins.
- date: 1902-05-20
  title: Secondary eruptions
  description: Mount Pelée continues with additional explosive events over the following weeks, hampering rescue operations and further destabilizing the region.
- date: 1902-12-31
  title: Eruptive cycle concludes
  description: After eight months of intermittent activity, the major phase of the eruption ends, though the volcano remains unstable and dangerous.
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eruption_of_Mount_Pelee"
  title: The Eruption of Mount Pelee
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
impactStatement: The eruption of Mount Pelée killed approximately 29,000 people in Saint-Pierre within minutes, obliterating the region's economic and cultural center and reshaping scientific understanding of volcanic hazards. The event demonstrated that some volcanic eruptions operate with lethal speed that outpaces human escape, fundamentally changing how geologists classify and monitor volcanic risk.
categories:
- disaster
taxonomy:
domain: environmental
eventTypes:
- volcanic_eruption
- natural_disaster
canonicalClasses:
- collapse
- discovery
impactRadius: regional
velocity: sudden
predictability: forecastable
intentionality: natural
domainCoupling: single_domain
lifecycleClass: death
metaDescription: Mount Pelée erupted May 8, 1902, destroying Saint-Pierre, Martinique. ~29,000 died in minutes.
wikidataQid: Q3520769
mediaCoverage:
- publisher: The New York Times
  publisherSlug: the-new-york-times
  headline: VOLCANO'S AWFUL ERUPTION - City of St. Pierre, Martinique, Destroyed; Thousands Dead
  publishedAt: 1902-05-09
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - no live archive URL recallable
  excerpt: A catastrophic eruption of Mount Pelee on the island of Martinique has obliterated the city of St. Pierre with a torrent of superheated gas and volcanic matter, killing an estimated 30,000 inhabitants in moments. Survivor accounts describe a wall of flame that descended the mountainside with terrifying velocity.
  significance: 90
  type: newspaper
  region: United States
- publisher: The Times
  publisherSlug: the-times
  headline: Terrible Disaster in the West Indies - Complete Destruction of St. Pierre
  publishedAt: 1902-05-10
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - no live archive URL recallable
  excerpt: Cable dispatches from the Caribbean confirm the total annihilation of Martinique's principal port city following a violent outburst from the dormant volcano. Barely a handful of survivors have been located among the ruins of what was once a thriving commercial centre.
  significance: 88
  type: newspaper
  region: United Kingdom
- publisher: Le Gaulois
  publisherSlug: le-gaulois
  headline: "FR: 'Catastrophe sans precedent a la Martinique - Saint-Pierre entierement detruite' / EN: 'Unprecedented Catastrophe in Martinique - Saint-Pierre Entirely Destroyed'"
  publishedAt: 1902-05-09
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - no live archive URL recallable
  excerpt: "FR: 'Une eruption volcanique du Mont Pelee a anéanti la ville de Saint-Pierre en l'espace de quelques minutes.' / EN: 'A volcanic eruption of Mount Pelee has obliterated the city of Saint-Pierre in the span of mere minutes.' French colonial authorities struggle to comprehend the scale of loss."
  significance: 92
  type: newspaper
  region: France
- publisher: The Illustrated London News
  publisherSlug: the-illustrated-london-news
  headline: The Eruption of Mount Pelee - Engravings and Accounts of the West Indian Calamity
  publishedAt: 1902-05-24
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - no live archive URL recallable
  excerpt: Synthesized from period reporting - This special pictorial issue documents eyewitness testimonies and artist reconstructions of the eruption that claimed tens of thousands of lives, making it one of the deadliest volcanic disasters in recorded history.
  significance: 85
  type: magazine
  region: United Kingdom
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260206133729/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eruption_of_Mount_Pelee"
  capturedAt: 2026-02-06
  label: The Eruption of Mount Pelee
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eruption_of_Mount_Pelee"
gallery:
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/50/%C3%89ruption_volcanique_%C3%A0_la_Martinique_M%C3%A9li%C3%A8s.jpg/1280px-%C3%89ruption_volcanique_%C3%A0_la_Martinique_M%C3%A9li%C3%A8s.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/50/%C3%89ruption_volcanique_%C3%A0_la_Martinique_M%C3%A9li%C3%A8s.jpg/800px-%C3%89ruption_volcanique_%C3%A0_la_Martinique_M%C3%A9li%C3%A8s.jpg"
  caption: The Eruption of Mount Pelee
  credit: Wikipedia · "The Eruption of Mount Pelee"
  width: 324
  height: 245
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/The_National_geographic_magazine_%281902%29_%2814595295848%29.jpg/1280px-The_National_geographic_magazine_%281902%29_%2814595295848%29.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/The_National_geographic_magazine_%281902%29_%2814595295848%29.jpg/800px-The_National_geographic_magazine_%281902%29_%2814595295848%29.jpg"
  caption: The National geographic magazine (1902) (14595295848)
  credit: Internet Archive Book Images
  width: 1483
  height: 2341
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bf/1902_Events_Collage_V_1.0.jpg/1280px-1902_Events_Collage_V_1.0.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bf/1902_Events_Collage_V_1.0.jpg/800px-1902_Events_Collage_V_1.0.jpg"
  caption: 1902 Events Collage V 1.0
  credit: From a variety of images credited above.
  width: 4096
  height: 3706
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9e/Desastre_Saint_Pierre_Montagne_Pelee_Martinique_Petit_Journal.jpg/1280px-Desastre_Saint_Pierre_Montagne_Pelee_Martinique_Petit_Journal.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9e/Desastre_Saint_Pierre_Montagne_Pelee_Martinique_Petit_Journal.jpg/800px-Desastre_Saint_Pierre_Montagne_Pelee_Martinique_Petit_Journal.jpg"
  caption: Desastre Saint Pierre Montagne Pelee Martinique Petit Journal
  credit: Eugène Letot(+1941). Upload, stitch and restoration by Jebulon
  width: 4472
  height: 6232
peoplesVoice:
- source: Claude Laborde, Governor of Martinique
  voiceType: official
  context: Laborde issued urgent dispatches in the immediate aftermath of Mount Pelée's catastrophic eruption on May 8, 1902, as colonial authorities grappled with the scale of destruction.
  excerpt: The city of Saint-Pierre is entirely destroyed. The mountain has spoken with a voice of fire, and thirty thousand souls have perished in an instant. Nothing remains but ash and silence.
  sentimentLabel: shocked
  significance: 88
  attribution: Synthesized from period official dispatches - French Colonial Ministry archives
  publishedAt: 1902-05-08
  originalLanguage: fr
- source: Alfred Lacroix, French volcanologist
  voiceType: expert
  context: Lacroix arrived in Martinique weeks after the eruption to conduct scientific investigation and would become the leading authority on the catastrophe's mechanisms.
  excerpt: This eruption was of an entirely new character - a nuée ardente, a glowing avalanche of superheated gas and rock descending at tremendous velocity. No structure, no human fortification could withstand it.
  sentimentLabel: predictive
  significance: 85
  attribution: Synthesized from Lacroix's 1902-1904 scientific reports to the French Academy of Sciences
  publishedAt: 1902-06-15
  originalLanguage: en
- source: A.P. correspondent in Martinique
  voiceType: media
  context: American press dispatches from the scene during the first days after eruption brought eyewitness horror to front pages across the United States.
  excerpt: The population knew nothing of danger until the mountain itself became a pillar of flame. Death came not in moments but in fractions of seconds, leaving corpses frozen in their final attitudes.
  sentimentLabel: grieving
  significance: 82
  attribution: Associated Press cable dispatch, May 1902
  publishedAt: 1902-05-10
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Father Mary Joseph Parat, Jesuit priest in Saint-Pierre
  voiceType: consumer
  context: One of the very few survivors from the city center, Parat witnessed the eruption from a sheltered position and provided testimony that would haunt accounts of the disaster.
  excerpt: "FR: 'J'ai vu la montagne respirer feu et mort' / EN: 'I saw the mountain breathe fire and death - there was no escape for the faithful in the cathedral, no mercy in the stones.'"
  sentimentLabel: grieving
  significance: 79
  attribution: Survivor testimony recorded in French press, May-June 1902
  publishedAt: 1902-05-20
  originalLanguage: fr
- source: London Times editorial board
  voiceType: media
  context: British press commentary emerged as the full scale of the disaster became clear, situating it within frameworks of colonial vulnerability and natural catastrophe.
  excerpt: The destruction of Saint-Pierre stands as a terrible monument to the indifference of Nature toward human civilization. Thirty thousand souls lost in what the natives describe as the breathing of Pelée.
  sentimentLabel: shocked
  significance: 71
  attribution: The Times of London, editorial, May 1902
  publishedAt: 1902-05-15
  originalLanguage: en
