Overall Green alert Volcanic eruption for Ulawun
in Papua New Guinea

Event summary

GREEN alert: The Ulawun Volcanic eruption is unlikely to require external humanitarian assistance based on the exposed population and coping capacity.

GDACS ID VO 252120
Name: Ulawun
Lat/Lon: -5.05 , 151.33
Event Date: 01 Oct 2019 UTC
Exposed Population 30km: About 15000 people within 30km
Exposed Population 100km: About 87000 people within 100km
Max Volc. Explosivity Index VEI: 4
Population Exposure Index PEI: 2
Inserted at: 01 Oct 2019 08:07 UTC

GDACS Score

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Virtual OSOCC
Meteo assessment
Satellite products
Analytical products
Papua New Guinea - Volcanic eruption (ECHO 27 Jun 2019)Thu, 27 Jun 2019 13:06

  • Mount Ulawun in West New Britain Province (New Britain island) erupted magmatic gas, ash and lava flows on 25 June at 22.00 UTC after increased activity in recent weeks. 
  • Between3,000 and 5,000 people voluntarily evacuated the immediate vicinity of Ulawun, according to the National Disaster Centre. 
  • The ash plume is moving generally south but has slowed in recent hours. Air Niugini has cancelled flights to Hoskins Airport until further assessments are made. 
  • The cluster system is to be activated in response to food, water, shelter and non food item needs among the evacuees. As the area has been cut off from the highway, relief items will be transported by road from Kimbe to Bialla, and then via helicopter to those affected.
PNG – Volcanic activity, Ulawun, West New Britain and East New Britain provinces (ECHO 01 Oct 2019)Tue, 01 Oct 2019 04:00

  • Ulawun erupted at about 5: 00 a.m. local time (UTC+10) on 1 October, following a swarm of seismic activity that began around 11:30 a.m. local time on 30 September.
  • The eruption was visible from red incandescent glow shooting up less than 100m from the base and an ash plume rising less than 1,000 metres. Preliminary observations suggest areas in the westerly direction may be affected by ashfall, but the current level of exposure to ashfall remains low. The West New Britain Provincial Disaster Centre reported that 6 care centres are open for evacuating residents. As of two weeks ago, approximately 6,200 people were staying in the care centres, which had remained open since the previous eruptions.
Papua New Guinea - Mount Ulawun Volcanic eruption (ECHO 02 Oct 2019)Wed, 02 Oct 2019 13:03

  • Following the Mount Ulawun eruption on 1 October, the volcanic explosion activity continues, the ash plume rose 6,100 m altitude and is moving in south-west direction at 37 km/h. 
  • The eruption has forced the evacuation of several people who recently returned to their homes, following a previous eruption and evacuation. 
  • As of 10.00 a.m. local time 2 October, the eruption of Ulawun continues via a new vent, low on its south-west flank. The alert level remains at stage 3, indicating a high threat to life. Seismicity remains high with tremors of similar intensity or slightly above. If the eruption continues, or the lava effusion rate increases, areas to the north-west of the current vent may be affected. Ash can be expected in down-wind areas. 
Papua New Guinea - Mount Ulawun Volcanic eruption (ECHO 03 Oct 2019)Thu, 03 Oct 2019 13:08

  • The activity of Mount Ulawun (West New Britain Province, New Britain island) is slightly decreasing since the ash plume rose approximately 3,000 m. According to media, people living close to the volcano have been preventively evacuated.
  • The Manam volcano (Manam island) located 700 km west of Mount Ulawun began to erupt on 28 September and, as of 2 October, the ash column has risen to 3,000 m. There are no reports of any casualties or damage.
  • According to the Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre, as of 2 October, a red aviation color code has been issued both for Ulawun and Manam.
Detailed event map. European Union, 2024. Map produced by EC-JRC.
The boundaries and the names shown on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the European Union.

Updates on volcanic activity (Smithsonian)

The Smithsonian/USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report provides information about global volcanism on a weekly basis. See the detail here

Latest media headlines

Articles: 29 | About casualties: 1 | Last hour: 0

Éruption d'un volcan en Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guinée (photos)Tue, 01 Oct 2019 09:40:00 +0200.

Le volcan instable Ulawun, en Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guinée, est entré en éruption tôt ce 1er octobre, envoyant une colonne de lave rouge dans le ciel et obligeant à évacuer les résidents récemment rentrés chez eux.
Un volcan japonais entre en éruption, son accès restreintThu, 08 Aug 2019 07:21:00 +0200.

Un volcan japonais situé à environ 140 km à l'ouest de Tokyo est entré en éruption dans la nuit de mercredi à jeudi pour la première fois depuis 2015, entraînant des restrictions d'accès. » LIRE AUSSI - Eruption du volcan Ulawun: des millie
...(more)
Sipef victime d'une éruptionTue, 06 Aug 2019 16:00:00 +0200.

L'action du groupe belge est en baisse après l'annonce d'une perte de production dans une plantation de Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guinée dont la récolte d'huile de palme a été affectée par une éruption volcanique. Sipef recule d'environ 3% en Bou
...(more)
Indonesia: Asia and the Pacific: Weekly Regional Humanitarian Snapshot ... Mon, 05 Aug 2019 14:42:00 +0200.

INDONESIA. As of 5 August, six people are known to have been killed and 2,100 people have been displaced following a 6.9 magnitude earthquake that struck 147 km southwest of Sumur District, Banten Province on 2 August. Most of the displaced
...(more)

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Estimated casualties (PAGER)

USGS estimates the number of casualties for each earthquake for the Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) product.
The graph shows the current fatalities estimate.

Exposed population

Analytical products

Daily Maps:

03/Jul/2019 06:37 UTC

Data, images, links, services and documents

For this events, GDACS has links to information from the following sources: EC-JRC (32), (2), INGV (1), WMO (1), INFORM (2),