New worries as another volcano starts to smoke

By Rebecca Kuku and Gynnie Kero
BIEM Island volcano in East Sepik has also started to spew smoke and ash and may erupt soon, says National Disaster Centre director Martin Mose.
It is the second island of five in the Schouten Group northwest of Port Moresby to begin volcanic activity after years of dormancy.
Kadovar Island in the group became active a week ago and it was intensifying by the day, prompting authorities to evacuate all islanders to the mainland.
Mose said that his team on the ground confirmed that Biem become active and started belching smoke and spewing ash on Friday evening.
“There are about 3000 people on Biem and we have readjusted the evacuation plans to include the Biem Islanders to the mainland using the Defence (Force) barge,” Mose said.
“The Biem Islanders will be evacuated first due to the high level of risk the Biem Island volcano poses.
“Then we will evacuate the Kadovar and Ruprup islanders.”
Mose said that they were planning for the worst case scenario as other nearby volcanic islands may also be triggered by the activities of the Kadovar and Biem volcanoes.
“We are also preparing for a tsunami as the activities of the two volcanoes may trigger a tsunami.
Wewak Emergency Relief Operations controller Raphael Yipmaramba said:
“The (Bien) volcano has not yet erupted but it has become active and has started to spew smoke and ash.
“The Governor Allen Bird, the provincial government and the administration, the National Disaster Centre, PNG Defence Force and the emergency operations team are all working around the clock to get people to safety.”
Bird said Biem was now their priority and they would evacuate the 5000 people on Biem and Ruprup islands.
He said the provincial government had allocated K200,000 from its provincial improvement programme funds to partly purchase a piece of land in the Turubu LLG in Wewak district to resettle the islanders on mainland.