Mass Evacuation of PNG Volcanic Island
Date: 29-Nov-04
Country: PAPAU NEW GUINEA
Vulcanologists said the eruption on Manam island, off Papua New Guinea's north coast, had quietened after a major eruption on Tuesday sent ash soaring 14 km (nine miles) into the air.
The eruption remained in the stage 3 category, which usually involves voluntary evacuations, but vulcanologists said the chance of a major explosive eruption remained high.
"Tremors are still being recorded continuously," volcanologist Herman Patia of the Rabaul Island vulcanological observatory told Reuters.
"The volcanic tremor system is still very fluid and it could result in a major eruption. The possibility of Manam erupting very explosively is still very high," he said.
The Post Courier newspaper said a mass evacuation of Manam would start on Friday, taking villagers to the mainland via a barge. Disaster officials were not immediately available for confirmation.
"The evacuation will start with four villages in the north of the island that are the most affected by the increase in volcanic activity, causing heavier ash fall and discharge of volcanic rocks," said the newspaper.
Manam is only 10 km (6 miles) wide, about 13 km (8 miles) off the country's north coast, with villages scattered around the sides of the central volcano, which towers 1,807 m (6,020 feet) above sea level.
The newspaper said that although the alert remained at stage 3, officials ordered the evacuation because heavy ash falls had polluted water supplies and destroyed crops.
"Officials also fear mudflows when the rainy season sets in," said the Post Courier. Mud flows have already destroyed some 20 bush homes and injured several people.
Manam began erupting in October, but a violent eruption on Tuesday night spewed an ash plume 14 kms into the air and extending 130 km (89 miles) to the southeast. An aviation red alert was issued to warn aircraft to stay away.
Evacuations become compulsory if volcanic activity intensifies to reach stage 4, the maximum.
A 1996 eruption on Manam killed 13 people and forced the majority of islanders to be evacuated. Manam's first recorded eruption was in 1616, and it has erupted at least 30 times since.
Papua New Guinea lies on the "Ring of Fire", a zone of volcanic activity around the Pacific in which more than 75 percent of the world's active and dormant volcanoes are located.
