Mount Lamington
The Lamington seen during the eruption in 1951 of the North
The Lamington is a stratovolcano in the province of Oro in Papua New Guinea. The volcano has been known for its eruption in January 1951, in which the place Higatura was destroyed and about 3,000 people died.
The volcano is located in the southeast of the island of New Guinea approximately 21 km south-southwest of the provincial capital Popondetta and about 35 kilometers from the coast to Salomonensee. By 1951 there was the mountain of several peaks, which were arranged in a semicircle around a directed north valley. The mountain is named after Charles Cochrane -Baillie, 2nd Baron Lamington, who was from 1896 to 1901 Governor of Queensland.
By 1951 it was not known that it is the wooded hill is a volcano. In later studies ash layers were found by which two outbreaks circa 8000 and almost 7000 years ago could be determined.
On January 15, 1951 newly created landslides on the peaks of Lamington were noted; later from there ascended a thin column of smoke and there were slight earthquake. The numerous earthquakes the following days caused the collapse of some houses. At the same time rose above the volcano ever larger eruption clouds that are increasingly contained ash and reached a height of seven to nine kilometers. The residents of small, close to the villages on the volcano began to flee.
On January 21, 1951, came to a violent eruption of force 4 on the Vulkanexplosivitätsindex, the pyroclastic flows and lahars triggered. An area of 175 km ² was completely devastated; were affected areas around the volcano, especially the area north of the crater. The village Higatura and several villages were destroyed; while 2942 people died.
The rescue work was hampered by suffocating dust, sulfur fumes and the hot ash continued for months. The outbreak continued accompanied by a steady roar that could be heard in more than 300 kilometers away on the island of New Britain, continued. Here, a lava dome built up in the crater, which had reached a height of about 300 meters on March 5, before it was destroyed by an eruption. When the eruption meter-sized blocks were thrown as far as three kilometers; of pumice and boulders existing flows covered a distance of up to 14 km and sat there trees on fire. A second lava dome reaches a height of about 550 meters and was destroyed in mid-May. Similarly, the eruptions continued until 1956.
The Australian volcanologist Tony Taylor was awarded in April 1952 for his contribution to the rescue work with the George Cross. Taylor had lived since January 1951 at Lamington, and contributed by his observations in the danger zone to save lives and minimize the risk of helpers, so the justification for the religious ceremony. Taylor published in 1958 under the title The 1951 eruption of Mount Lamington documentation and analysis of the eruption, which has become a classic among the volcanological publications.
The mid-1960s resembled the vegetation of the area devastated by the pyroclastic flow back to the adjacent surfaces. In April 2002, rumors of an impending outbreak of Lamington in the area of Popondetta. Studies of the Rabaul volcano observatory revealed no concrete evidence of an imminent eruption. The volcano is monitored again since 1970; this earthquake were rarely registered.