This is a very active volcano overlooking the town of Rabaul, on East New Britain island, Papua New Guinea. In 1994 it erupted and buried the entire town, forcing the government to relocate the local capital to another town. Throughout the year, small plumes send ash slowly descending from the sky. But people still live in Rabaul, because it is the only bay in the area deep enough for a port. Its proximity to the volcano and several World War II historical sites also accounts for a couple of hotels. During the war, Rabaul was a large Japanese airbase with over 100,000 stationed troops and an important stronghold. There are miles of tunnels in the area that the Japanese dug for shelter from allied bombing. Admiral Yamamoto took off from the airbase here before being shot down. I stayed in the Rabaul Hotel, one of the few buildings that remained after the 1994 eruption because its owners, a young Australian couple with a small daughter, stayed on throughout the storm to constantly shovel ash off the roof, preventing collapse. The volcano violently erupted again in 2006, but fortunately the prevailing winds blew most of the ash away from town.