Under the volcanoes by John S. Mills

he town of Rabaul, on the As the eruption began, people were Many fled with only the clothes they island of Nev.; Britain, part drawn to it by curiosity. The indige­ were wearing. The town's dentist fled of Papua Nev.; Guinea, is nous T olai people took advantage of in pyjamas and slippers. Intense elec­ actually built within an the abrupt emergence of a previously trical storms and torrential rain caused active volcanic caldera. submerged reef to gather stranded fish; by the ejection of large volumes of YNow flooded by sea water, the caldera some European residents took a small water vapour and sea water into the was formed several thousand years boat and rowed out to island atmosphere added to the people's ago, but the town remains vulnerable for a closer viev.; of the phenomenon. terror. to possible volcanic activity from no But it soon became clear that a By the time the formal decision to fev.;er than six surrounding peaks and massive eruption was starting. evacuate the town was taken, shortly from an inlet of the sea, Sulphur Creek after daybreak on the Sunday, the - an area of hot springs and volcanic Dr John S. Mills is Medical town was described by one eyewitness gas discharges. Officer with the WHO Rep ­ as being " ... covered in a mantle of The first written record of volcanic resentative's Office. Port­ deathly grey." Some roads were activity in the area appears in the log Moresby, Papua . impassable as layers of pumice and of the ship "Swallow", whose captain, ash built up, and tree branches, simi­ the explorer Philip Cartaret, reported Hundreds of people living close to larly laden with fallout, broke and on 10 September 1767 that he had Vulcan must have perished in the early crashed into the streets. The power seen " . .. a great smoke, and imagined stages of the eruption as the 10-km­ supply failed and the radio transmitting it . . . from a Volcano." high column of ejected material lost its station was overwhelmed by ash and The most recent eruption, which upward momentum and crashed to pumice. cost some 500 lives, started initially earth again. Such phenomena were In the absence of an evacuation from the volcano Vulcan just after responsible for 3,000 deaths during plan, most people fled by motor 4 pm on Saturday, 29 May 1937. the 1951 eruption of Mount Laming­ vehicle or on foot, to the north-east, There was then no contingency plan ton, on the main island of Nev.; over the caldera wall to the beach at for action in the event of an eruption, Guinea. Nodup, where a seaborne evacuation even though the last volcanic activity Within hours, the daylight had by vessels of all sizes which had had occurred a mere 60 years pre­ turned to a blackness more absolute collected there by order of the authori­ viously - only a moment ago in than night as a choking cloud of dust ties proceeded in an orderly fashion . geological terms. The town had in and ash was blown over Rabaul by the Others, far fev.;er, fled to the north-west 1937 a scientific establishment but south-east trade winds. there was no volcanologist or seismo­ Most of the 6,000 people had little graphic equipment. But for a fortui­ more than a fev.; minutes to prepare The idyllic peace of Rabaul, in the tous combination of circumstances, the for flight from the terrors of the dust South Seas, was rudely interrupted in death toll could have been much and ash cloud, and the pumice fallout 1937, when the surrounding hills greater. which began to rain down on the town. erupted.

WORLD HEALTH, January - Feb ruary 1991 13 Under the volcanoes and fared less well, as they were still in crew effected a rapid redistribution of closely crowded together. Water had to the path of the fallout from Vulcan, weight and narrowly averted a disaster. be shipped in, while mosquito nets and pushed by the prevailing south-east At dawn on Monday, the picture in other medical supplies ordered by winds. Rabaul was one of " . . . desolation, the radio, arrived from in a week. But as the first flotilla of rescue boats town covered in a deathly grey, roads Perhaps remarkably, there is no record set sail for the safety of , on the were jungles of fallen branches and of any disease outbreak among the coast 30 km to the south-east, a ankle-deep in mud." The acting police evacuees. second dark eruption cloud shot superintendent and those few of his That the 1937 eruption occurred in upwards from close behind the hills officers who remained in the town had daylight, on a weekend Saturday, over which the evacuees had just fled. certain priorities to attend to: to bury when most families were together in The volcano T avurvur had added its the contents of sanitary pans (there their homes, that the sea at Nodup eruption to that of Vulcan. was no mains sewerage system in was unusually calm, and that there This caused great alarm. If both Rabaul at that time); to keep a road existed near to Kokopo a mission Vulcan and T avurvur had erupted, clear to Nodup, and to safeguard station which was able to cope with a could not Kabui, the "mother" of those property and prevent the return of large number of refugees, constituted, two volcanoes, do the same? The unauthorised people and possible as the official 1937 report to the hitherto orderly evacuation at Nodup looting. League of Nations stated " . .. a fortui­ became tense. Lifeboats, pinnaces and tous concurrence of so many favour­ cargo lighters were grossly overloaded Mission hospital able factors as could scarcely have in ferrying people to the trading vessel It was fortunate that close to been anticipated, and . . . it must not "Montoro," which had steamed all Kokopo was (and is) a large mission be taken for granted that such a night in response to an urgent station, Vunapope, whose extensive combination (will) necessarily exist summons from Rabaul. The captain buildings were now used to accommo­ when next Rabaul has to be and crew had some advance indication date the evacuees. Vunapope also had evacuated." of the Rabaul events - ash had fallen (and has today) its own hospital, which Intense bombing of Rabaul towards on her decks as far as 240 km away. was able to accept patients evacuated the end of World War II virtually Captain Mitchie estimated that when from the Rabaul hospital. destroyed the town. The destruction by the "Montoro" sailed for Kokopo at There may have been as many as sundown on the Sunday, she was 10,000 people accommodated at carrying 5,000 people. Her usual com­ Vunapope. The staff of the Public Dramatic photos taken during the 1937 plement was 50. Indeed a strong rain Health Department were well aware of eruption of Vulcan. Choking clouds of squall struck the starboard side of the the potential dangers inherent in dust and ash as well as intense electrical ship and only hurried action by the having such a mass of people so stonns terrified the people of Rabaul. © near Vulcan, is the chairman of the Provincial Disaster Committee, and would be the local controller in the event of an alert being declared. Mr Paulias makes the point that the present generation "don't worry" about the potential disaster, though their grandparents can and do tell them vivid stories. Under the current Disaster Plan alerts are staged according to the likely time of the next eruption. Stage one, in force virtually all the time, implies an eruption expected within years or months; at the other end of the scale, stage four implies that the situation is critical and an event may take 12lace within days or even hours. Annual rehearsals The Provincial Disaster Committee holds monthly meetings, and has annual rehearsals of the movements of transport, equipment and personnel. Various sub-committees are charged with appropriate responsibilities - evac­ uation, public information, rescue, public health, temporary accommo­ dation, feeding and so forth. The non-governmental organizations are also represented. The plan lays out clearly the responsibilities of all coordi­ nators including their training responsi­ bilities. A former World War II airstrip is © maintained in readiness, fuel supplies man was much greater than that or all of those living within the caldera, are kept at "safe" locations, and the inflicted by the combined assault of depending on the prevailing weather Food Plan is designed to cater for Vulcan and T avurvur. conditions and locations of vents, will 60,000 people for seven days. Yet what seemed to many to be an be exposed to such hazards as volcanic The health authorities will, amongst opportunity to relocate the town to a earthquakes, tsunamis (destructive other activities, discharge all walking geologically safe place was not taken. waves), poisonous gas discharges and patients, transfer all those in hospital Today Rabaul, still worried about and mudflows. beds to safe areas, as well as the blood affect~d by the volcanoes (six people One of the most alarming aspects of bank, and cease all but emergency died of toxic gas inhalation in 1990, on the 1937 eruption to the residents of services. At the national level there are the slopes of ) has a popu­ Rabaul was the intense electrical plans for further evacuation from the lation of about 16,000; a total of storms and torrential rain. "The disaster area to more distant areas. 80,000 to 100,000 live within the thunder was continuous and louder Food resources within Papua New caldera. It is accepted that another (even) than the rumbling of the vol­ Guinea should normally be adequate. eruption is inevitable- but when? canoes," reported the Rabaul Times. Mr Leith Anderson, the National Dis­ The volcanological observatory, Torrential rain will probably be even aster Coordinator, is confident that, in located on the caldera wall, has found more devastating in a future eruption, the event of a 1937 -scale eruption and evidence of over half a million years of as much of the area has been sub­ even with today's much greater popu­ activity at Rabaul. Major events - jected to tree felling and small-scale lation, would be which in geological terms means 10 agriculture on the slopes around the self-sufficient for up to five days, and cubic kilometres or more of ejecta - caldera. considerable financial resources are at have happened roughly every thou­ Ash fallout is likely to be the major Mr Anderson's disposal at short notice. sand years. "Small to moderate" concern in future eruptions similar to Thereafter the country may have to eruptions - those which, like major or greater than 1937. Not only is request some overseas or international ones, have public health implications - property directly damaged, but psycho­ assistance, including that available have occurred at a frequency of from logical effects - especially fear and from WHO. one to 59 years. The last was almost disorientation - can be induced by the If ever the worst came to the worst 48 years ago. sudden descent of stygian darkness. and Rabaul was totally devastated, Potential eruption sites are all close Disruptions to transport and commu­ there are contingency plans to relocate to the town and may not be limited to nication links may be widespread or the town at Kokopo. But the cost those which have been active in histori­ total. involved would certainly entail over­ ea! times. New sites may appear. Some Mr Nason Paulias, whose home is seas funding support. •

WORLD HEALTH, January-February 1991 15