Twenty years ago on Friday, the nearby town of Rabaul, the provincial capital on East New Britain, was devastated by a massive eruption after the subsequent rain of dust destroyed banks, buildings and the airport. Such was the damage that the capital moved 20 kilometres south-east to Kokopo.

This time around, the sulphurous ash is again causing problems. The closest settlement to the volcano on Matupit Island, less than three kilometres to the west, is unscathed. The only impact of the eruption on them is a fall in the number of visitors to the hot springs overlooking the crater. The shell necklaces and bags they tout to the tourists give them a small income.

But it is a very different story to the north west, which found itself downwind. More than two weeks after the eruption on August 29, banana trees, coconut palms and, perhaps more significantly, the small gardens from which already impoverished locals eke out a modest supply of vegetables, are destroyed. The plants, including cabbages, corn and peanuts, have been scorched by the dust. The burnt and shrivelled leaves have left large swathes of country looking as though it had been affected by a severe drought.

Martina Powell, whose property is just outside Rabaul, shows the burnt remains of her garden.

"It's the ash that just fell in the night," she says. "I planted some ibeka, it's like spinach, but now it is gone. I normally spend about 10 kina [about $4.5] a week for food from the market for a week. I have my husband and my son with his three children aged seven, five and two to feed. Now I will have to spend more at the market.

"The first time [the eruption in 1994] we didn't stay, they made sure everyone moved out. But this time we stayed and we cleaned the houses. We thank our god that we worship that he gave us the rain. After we cleaned all the houses the rain fell, it was not a heavy shower, just enough to wash it off."

Others rely on government handouts, walking to collect rice and noodles from collection points in the sparsely populated area.

Councillor Leonard Maing says every food garden has been destroyed in his ward Malaguna Number 2 just outside Rabaul where about 38 villages are affected. They come now for rice, tinned fish, biscuits and chicken-flavoured instant noodles. He says the government has contributed one million kina but another two million is needed.

"The food is not enough for everybody," he says. "Everyone has to look for their own food now. I was talking to them this morning about how best they can find some other food apart from supplies. I think it is going to improve but it is going to take some time."

MP Malakai Tabar is reported in the Papua New Guinea Post-Courier as saying access to clean water is the main concern and co-ordinating with unaffected areas to provide garden food for affected families is important.