Gravity forced the volcanic surges to pour down the slopes of Mount Tambora. The flows were pyroclastic, a mixture of hot ash and gases moving at speeds of up to 200kmph.

Ten thousand people were directly incinerated. The surrounding provinces of Pekat and Tambora were completely buried and the Tambora people made extinct. The whirlwind and tsunamis that followed consumed more lives.

In Sumbawa, a 60cm thick ash blanket destroyed all crops, leading to famine. Bali, Lombak and South Sulawesi were covered by 30cm of thick ash. There was no food or clean water. Children were traded for rice. People rushed to escape these islands and even sold themselves as slaves to traders.

Eighty-two thousand died from famine and disease in Sumbawa and Lombak and 25,000 in Bali, bringing the total deaths in Indonesia to 117,000.