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E-book Roars from the Mountain : Colonial Management of the 1951 Volcanic disaster at Mount Lamington

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Penilaian

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First, most of those who perished in the volcanic eruption were local Sangara people, one of a larger group of preliterate Papuans whom the colonists called the ‘Orokaiva’. This means, arguably, that the catastrophe at Lamington was not truly an ‘Australian’ one, and given also that only 35 white people—expatriates from Australia—were killed by the eruption. Second, the volcanic eruption at Mount Lamington was a sudden-impact, geophysical type of natural hazard—a group of phenomena that also includes earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, tropical cyclones, severe storms, coastal surges and flooding. These are in contrast to the slower-onset and longer-lasting natural hazards of widespread, deadly diseases and related pandemics. At least 15,000 Australians are thought to have died from the ‘Spanish’ influenza pandemic in 1919 after it was introduced to Australia by soldiers returning from service during World War I in Europe (see, for example, the centennial article by Curson and McCracken 2019).The term ‘natural disaster’ is still used widely today, but it too requires some clarification. The expression carries the implication that the cause of the disaster, or blame for it, is solely the impact of a natural hazard or, in insurance terms, an ‘Act of God’. However, people affected (if not killed) by disasters may live in highly hazard-vulnerable environments by their own choice and, perhaps, even know and accept that there was some risk of future destructive natural impacts. Orokaiva communities, for example, flourished by developing gardens on the rich volcanic soils of Mount Lamington. How this advantage was balanced against the natural hazard risks identified through their experience and traditional stories about the nearby mountain is an example of community risk-management that is addressed today by many ‘at-risk’ societies elsewhere in the world and at different times of history.The Lamington eruption of 1951 is well known in volcano science because of the outstanding landmark report published in 1958 by G.A.M. ‘Tony’ Taylor, a volcanologist employed by BMR, the Australian Government’s Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology and Geophysics (Taylor 1958). BMR Bulletin 38 is an insightful, well-written and informative account that is still referred to in many, more modern, volcanological research papers, and in textbooks dealing with the so-called ‘peléean’ and ‘vulcanian’ types of volcanic eruption seen at Lamington in 1951. Taylor’s scientific account is, in contrast, quite stark in dealing with the disaster management aspects of the eruption that, at the time, were both controversial and well publicised. This omission may have been deliberate to concentrate on the volcanology rather than on the conflicts and disputes of the public controversy.

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Ketersediaan

Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

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No. Panggil

551.432953 JOH r

Penerbit

Australia : ANU Press., 2020

Deskripsi Fisik

382 hlm

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

9781760463564

Klasifikasi

551.432953

Tipe Isi

text

Tipe Media

computer

Tipe Pembawa

online resource

Edisi

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Subjek

Mountains in Papua New Guinea

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

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Versi lain/terkait

Lampiran Berkas

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