*Perilous Times

PNG villagers flee after Volcano eruption*

By Lloyd Jones in Port Moresby

May 22, 2007 12:50pm
Article from: AAP

UP to 2000 villagers have fled to higher ground from their seaside homes
on Siassi Island in Papua New Guinea after a volcanic eruption on nearby
Ritter Island.

There were no reports from the island of casualties, but sea surges
reportedly destroyed four houses and a boat following Saturday's
eruption, Morobe Province disaster and emergency director Roy Kamen said
today.

Around 1500 to 2000 people from two villages had moved to higher ground
for fear of tsunamis and locals were too afraid to travel by sea, he said.

"They reported waves and the level of the sea rising," Mr Kamen said.

"They still hear rumbling noises and see smoke coming out of the island
and had a few tremors last night."

The islands lie between the PNG mainland and the island of New Britain.

Disaster officials had hoped to fly to the islands by helicopter today
to assess the situation but no aircraft with floats for flying over the
sea were available, Mr Kamen said.

The Rabaul Volcanological Observatory and the Geophysical Observatory in
Port Moresby did not pick up indicative seismic activity from the
eruption on their equipment.

Minor eruptions occurred on the 140m high uninhabited Ritter Island in
1972 and 1974.

In 1888 half the island collapsed in an eruption that triggered massive
tsunamis that claimed an estimated 3000 lives on surroundings islands
and the PNG mainland.

On April 2 this year an 8.1 magnitude quake triggered a tsunami in the
northwest Solomon Islands that killed 52 people and left thousands homeless.

Many are still camped on higher ground above their destroyed seaside homes.

Aftershock quakes measuring above 5.0 magnitude continue to shake the
region.