Experts say such an event would have a colossal impact on a global scale. A super-eruption is also five to 10 times more likely to happen than an asteroid impact, the report claims.

The authors want to highlight the issue, which they feel is being ignored by governments. They emphasize that, while catastrophic eruptions of this kind are rare in terms of a human lifetime, they are surprisingly common on a geologic scale.

The effects, say the authors, "could be sufficiently severe to threaten the fabric of civilization" - putting events such as the Asian tsunami into the shade. The fallout from a super-eruption could cause a "volcanic winter", devastating global agriculture and causing mass starvation.

It would have a similar effect to a 1.5 kilometer-diameter space rock striking Earth, they claim.

While impacts of this type are estimated to occur once every 400-500,000 years, the frequency of equivalent super-eruptions is about once every 100,000 years.