Rabaul, the eternal restarting...

September 19, 1994, Rabaul, New Britain, lives its last moments of prosperity. The city is at this moment at the peak of its success. The ships arrive by tens to unload their cargo and leave with wood, oil or copra, residences bloom to the southern tip of the bay surrounding an airport with intensive traffic, traders are guaranteed to do their day, several banks are installed the four corners of the city, and all the parent companies of the main administrations are located here. Everything is green, smiles and activity.

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24 heures plus tard... La ville est désertée, les flammes finissent d'anéantir les plus légères habitations pendant que les cendres commencent à s'accumuler sur les toitures des plus modernes. De toutes manières ce n'est qu'une question de jours, toutes finiront par céder, rompre sous le poids des cendres, brûler ou disparaitre sous une couche noire qui ne cesse de prendre de l'épaisseur. La ville est construite sur une caldera préhistorique et deux de ses cratères secondaires sont entrés en éruption en l'espace d'une heure. Rabaul, exposée sous les vents dominants, s'est vue recevoir toutes les émanations, cendres et pierres de ces deux cratères. Un véritable cataclysme aggravé par les tsunamis qui se succèdent généralement après ce genre de catastrophe. La côte est balayée. Heureusement, grâce à une surveillance efficace de l'activité volcanique de la région, aucune victime directement liée à l’éruption ne sera signalée. Cinq victimes indirectement liées à l’éruption seront comptabilisées les jours suivants la catastrophe.

24 hours later ... The city is deserted, the flames finish to destroy the fragile homes while the ashes begin to accumulate on the roofs of the most modern. Anyway, it is only a matter of days, all will fall, break under the weight of ashes, burn or disappear under a black layer that keeps getting thicker. The city is built on a prehistoric caldera and two of its secondary craters erupted in one hour. Rabaul, exposed under the prevailing winds, received all the emanations, ashes and stones of these two craters. A real cataclysm aggravated by the tsunamis that succeed one another after this kind of disaster. The coast is swept. Fortunately, thanks to effective monitoring of volcanic activity in the region, no casualties directly related to the eruption will be reported. Five victims indirectly related to the eruption will be counted the days following the disaster.

_{The remains of some planes and a long corridor are the only visible traces of the old airport}

_{The crater of Balana Kaïa}

It's hard to be positive about such a disaster, but let's try it anyway. Once again Man has attempted to establish himself where Nature did not allow it, and it has taken back its due by afflicting a desolation of which it alone manages to give color. At the foot of the volcanoes, the hot springs of water leave an ocher trail and green by releasing the 60 degrees of their waters in a bay with incredible gradiant of colors. These colors seem unreal. Above, after a good hour of hiking and sledding, the crater of Balana Kaïa can be contemplated with a position of balancing since its peaks that one spans like a horse. A real riding position. It is from here that we can admire the bottom of its crater filling in the rainy season, that we can contemplate further the cone of Tavurvur still smoking and causing regular deposits of ashes on the city, or that we can become aware of the all of this lunar landscape but captivating. All this would be great if the foundations of the buried buildings did not appear from time to time to remind us of the pain of the population.

_{Ridding position on the ridges of Balana Kaïa}

The 1994 eruption is not an isolated phenomenon. 1878, 1937 to 1941, 1994, 2002 to 2004, 2005, and more recently 2014, as many periods of more or less violent activities that have made Rabaul the desert area it has become today. If many have left the city to settle a few places away, others find the strength to come back, generations after generations, occupy their land, rebuild their homes, rebuild their lives, until...

_{Le Tavurvur toujours en activité}

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Video: The eruption of 2014 filmed by tourists : http://www.lemonde.fr/planete/video/2014/09/08/l-entree-en-eruption-d-un-volcan-en-papouasie-nouvelle-guinee-filmee-par-des-touristes_4483523_3244.html
More about PAPOUASIA NEW GUINEA on this complete report here:

In English: https://steemit.com/traveldigest/@marc-allaria/papua-new-guinea-4-honor-to-the-visitor

En Français: https://steemit.com/travelfeed/@marc-allaria/papua-new-guinea-4-rabaul-l-eternel-recommencement

In English: https://steemit.com/traveldigest/@marc-allaria/papua-new-guinea-4-the-forgotten-atolls-report

In English: https://steemit.com/traveldigest/@marc-allaria/papua-new-guinea-4-once-upon-a-time-there-was-underwater-exploration

En Français: https://steemit.com/traveldigest/@marc-allaria/papouasie-nouvelle-guinee-4-il-etait-une-fois-l-exploration-sous-marine

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