The ongoing eruption of the La Palma volcano has reminded many of the threat volcanoes pose, having destroyed more than 2,500 buildings and displaced thousands of people. But thankfully, it doesn't compare to the worst volcano eruptions of all time. Express.co.uk has compared the top five most explosive volcanoes in history.

       The most famous volcano eruption in history, the devastation of Pompeii has captured the modern imagination and become a sight of intense geological research.

       In Italy in AD79, the volcano buried the nearby cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

       An accurate death toll has never been made, but thousands of bodies were preserved by the ash.

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       Mount Ruiz erupted twice on November 13, 1985, devastating a local town.

       Mud, ash, lava and water raced down the slope of the volcano and into river channels.

       It almost entirely buried the town of Armero, killing an estimated 25,000 people.

       The worst volcanic disaster of the 20th century took place in 1902 in Martinique in the Caribbean.

       Caught up in the midst of an important election, residents of Saint Pierre failed to heed the mountain’s warnings and evacuate.

       The eruption began in April and didn’t end until October, causing the death of some 30,000 people, 15 percent of the island’s population.

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       Indonesia is home to hundreds of volcanoes, some dormant and some active.

       In 1883, the multiple eruptions of Mount Krakatoa between the islands of Java and Sumatra killed more than 35,000 people.

       Some of the eruptions were so huge, they were heard as far away as Australia.

       Another of Indonesia’s hundreds of active volcanoes erupted in 1815, causing devastation in the South East Asia region.

       The huge eruption is the deadliest ever recorded in human terms, killing some 90,000 people.

       The aftermath caused widespread disease and harmed the growth of crops for generations, and even caused climate changes as far away as North America.