Understand
Rabaul is on the Gazelle Peninsular in the northeast of New Britain island. Most of the indigenous people are Tolais. During the eruption 80% of the buildings in Rabaul collapsed. Although there has been much reconstruction the city always runs the risk of further volcanic activity.
Rabaul the word means Mangrove in one of the local languages as it was built on a mangrove swamp was the headquarters of German New Guinea until captured by Commonwealth troops during World War I. The Australian administration was moved to Lae in 1937 after an eruption that caused over 500 deaths. In January 1942, it was heavily bombed on January 23 thousands of Japanese troops were landed. By 1943 there were about 110,000 Japanese troops based in Rabaul and around 2000 local women were forced into prostitution. The Japanese army dug many kilometers of tunnels as shelter from the Allied air forces and many of these can still be seen today.
On 19 September 1994, Tavurvur and Vulcan volcanoes erupted, destroying the nearby airport and covering most of the town with heavy ash. Fortunately the city's inhabitants evacuated before the eruption and only a handful of people were killed. Most of the buildings in the southeastern half of Rabaul collapsed due to the weight of ash.
