Rabaul is situated in the North-East of the island of New Britain, which administratively belongs to Papua-New Guinea and, along with New Ireland and other islands, belongs to the Bismarck Archipelago [The map of New Britain came from a bigger map of Papua-New Guinea, posted on the web by the University of Texas at Austin Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection]. Rabaul is the capital of the Province of East New Britain, and has traditionally been the center of commerce for these islands. Actually, it was also a quite popular destination for tourists, with a well developed tourism infrastructure. However, in September of 1994, the capital was almost completely destroyed by the eruption of the volcanos Tavurvur (below left) and Vulcan (below right) on either side of Blanche Bay. The picture of Tavurvur, which exhibited intense volcanic activity until April of 1995, was taken from what used to be the location of the airport of Rabaul. The sulfur outflows from two locations on the crater are clearly visible (see a bigger version of the picture). Vegetation has been able to recover fairly quickly, partly due to the fertility of the volcanic soils and also due to the rich rains of the area.

    The Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., U.S.A., has a great account of the events leading to and folowing the eruption, which I am mirroring here. The signs from the 1994-1995 eruptions are still quite evident. Ash can be seen piled up high on the sides of streets (below left) and only at locations where enough work has been done can the coraligenic substratum be exposed and re-distributed (below right).

    We arrived to the area's new airport which is situated quite a distance from the town, and, on our way to one of the few renovated hotels open in town since 1995, we witnessed booming activity almost exclusively devoted to the reconstruction of the area's transportation and supply network. The Geography Environment Society maintains a webpage on Rebuilding Rabaul. Also, here is a short essay on Rabaul by Catherine Clarke for Air Niugini.