A dormant volcano hits Papua New Guinea with 2018’s first “surprise” eruption

NewsBharati    08-Jan-2018
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Port Moresby, January 8: Last year witnessed the angry avatar of Bali’s Mount Agung during a dangerous volcanic eruption crippling normal life totally. Now, the renewed volcanic activity in Remote Island off the northern coast of Papua New Guinea is raising a fear of a repetition of Mount Agung episode.

The usually dormant 365-meter tall volcano began erupting on Friday and has not stopped since. A good amount of ash has been emitting continuously in a plume that has traveled about 120 nautical miles so far. This sudden activity of the dormant volcano forced over 500 residents of the island to flee. Though till now, it is just a continuous emission of volcanic ash at the moment.

Though till now the activity is limited to spewing of ash, further risks are associated with the ongoing activity. The eruption may become explosive, with a risk of tsunamis and landslides. Moreover, if a change of wind direction hits the plume traveling towards west-north-west, could affect operations at PNG’s Wewak airport.

In history, there’s no record of the eruption of this volcano which is why it is hard to compare with any previous incident. "The volcano showed signs of seismic unrest back in 2015, so it was rumbling a bit, but it didn't erupt at that time, and that's the only activity in its recorded history apart from the recent eruption," a forecaster said.

Volcano Volcanic eruption Papua New Guinea Natural Disaster