Manam Motu

The island was evacuated in 2004 and its residents resettled elsewhere in Papua New Guinea, but many have begun to return despite concerns of future volcanic activity.

[1] The first recorded sighting by Europeans of Manam Island was on 5 August 1545 by the Spanish navigator Iñigo Órtiz de Retes on board the carrack San Juan, trying to return from Tidore to New Spain.

[5] Thirteen local residents were killed during an eruption on 3 December 1996, when pyroclastic flows reached the village of Budua.

The eruption began October 24 but was not seen as a major threat until the wind changed pushing ash and debris towards inhabited areas.

[6] In March 2007 the government of Papua New Guinea made a large area of land available for permanent resettlement of displaced islanders at Andarum near Bogia.

Large ash plume From Manam Volcano, November 2004
Sulfur dioxide cloud released by the January 27, 2005 eruption of Manam, as measured by the OMI aboard NASA's Aura satellite.
Map of Manama and adjacent coast