In the light of the White Island tragedy

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As you may have heard on news, there was a deadly volcanic eruption in New Zealand on 8 December 2019.

White Island, also known as Whakaari (pronounced Fa ka re), is a volcanic Island, 48 kms off the coast east coast of New Zealand. It has been an active volcano for 1000’s of years, most of the time stable but there has been many eruptions over those years and several in my lifetime.

As beautiful as New Zealand is, there are many volcanoes, active and inactive. Concentrating on the two main islands (North & South), there are 100s of volcanoes, 53 of which are in New Zealand’s largest city, luckily in the Auckland region they are inactive. I have posted about Auckland volcanoes previously 53 Volcanoes in Auckland, New Zealand and Lake Taupo is a volcanic crater

There are several active volcanoes in New Zealand, some of which have erupted in the past 20 years. Some of these active volcanoes, people hike around during the summer, and ski throughout the winter. One of these is Mt. Ruapehu, which has a volcanic lake at the top and the temperature is current 37 degrees Celsius (98.6F). The last eruption was 25 September 2007.

In the events that followed the White Island eruption, there has been some criticism of why tourists were allowed on the island. There has been tours to the island for many years without incident. Volcanoes can be unpredictable and people are curious to get up close to places like this, not just here but overseas also. People (including 1000s of tourists) hike the Tongariro Alpine Crossing despite the dangers. We are all responsible for ourselves, and as curious Local Guides, we have to make the right decisions in life to stay away from dangers.

I’m very sad of the injuries incurred by the people that were on White Island at the time, and equally sad for the people that have lost their lives. My heart goes out to all of them and their families.

Update as at 15 December. Unfortunately 16 people have died as a result of injuries and burns. There are still two unaccounted for people and the search continues for these people.

Marker showing where White Island is off the coast of New Zealand
Marker showing where White Island is off the coast of New Zealand1280×1002 146 KB

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Thank you @TheEagleEye for this post.

I have already heard about this sad story.Yesterday I read about 100 tourists that could not survive in this tragedy.

It is awful!((

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Thanks for message @helga19 . It was reported initially there was 100 people on the island but in fact there were only 48. At the time of writing this message, 31 are in hospital with serious burns, 6 people confirmed dead, and 8 people still missing, and 3 people been discharged from hospital.

Lucily another tour group had just left the island and were on a boat returning to the mainland. The people on the boat took many videos of the eruption.

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Thank you @TheEagleEye for your reply

Luckily,only 48 people were on the island, and some of them alive.

I saw the video of eruption from the board of the ship,which was made by tourists in BBC’S news

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Dear @TheEagleEye ,

Thank you for sharing this nice post about White Island and taking into perspective the sad events that occurred over the weekend when people got hurt.

I already expressed my opinion in another post on LGC with regard to the criticism that people should not go to such dangerous places. As you said, life is full of risks, in particular for the more adventurous tourists or sports practitioners. In many cases, these are calculated risks, as long as the people that join such activities are well informed.

Over the years, I have traveled to many active volcanoes and my White Island tour experience is definitely in my top five volcanic experiences. I would go there again in the future, despite what happened earlier this week, so I agree traveling there should be a choice.

You mentioned Mnt Ruapehu, and when I was there (December 1996) it was roaring and steaming. The trip up the volcano - so we could look down into the steaming, roaring crater - was amazing. The hotel we were staying in the valley gave us a safety briefing in relation to the potential mud-flow-risk.

The Tongariro Crossing was one of the best hikes I have done in my life, even better than the Milford Track. New Zealand is a fantastic destination, and for volcano lovers like me, it has a lot to offer.

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@TheEagleEye thanks for sharing such a detailed post in order to understand what happened in this terrible tragedy.

Best Regards.

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I read you post with great interest @JeroenM

I have already visited 5 places with volcanoes.It is very interesting expierence.Have you got some photos of this places!?

Really is is a risk to tourist to visit active volcanos.

“Life is full of risks, in particular for the more adventurous tourists or sports practitioners. In many cases, these are calculated risks, as long as the people that join such activities are well informed.”----it is quite right.

Everyone is responsible for his own life.

But At the same time our life without adventure is boring.

Take care of your life @JeroenM ,

@TheEagleEye

Best wishes,

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Thank you for your message @JeroenM . It is good that you have been to those places and amazing that you say you would go to White island again knowing how unpredictable it can be.

I lived and worked in Whakatane for several years as a paramedic and also for several years in Taupo. When in Taupo I did many helicopter trips to the Tongariro Crossing to pick up injured hikers. It was pretty much a daily occurance in the summertime, and during winter we had the skiing accidents to attend to.

Take care in all your adventure activities.

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Thanks @SebaasC

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Dear local guides @TheEagleEye

@JeroenM

Recently I watch

videos on YouTube about this island

One video about nice excursion to this island ,another about what has happened yesterday.

https://youtu.be/J5hxTJfboeI

White island excursion.

https://youtu.be/WxnSCzYndaw

It happened yesterday

@TheEagleEye

@JeroenM

Watch these videos.

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@helga19 unfortunately 16 people have died as a result of their injuries and burns. There are still two unaccounted for people and the search continues for them.

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Thanks @helga19 for link on videos.

This white island is realy nice place, but as active vulcano its risky to visit them. I agree with @TheEagleEye .

Regards from Slovakia

Karol

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Thank you for sharing @TheEagleEye and many thoughts and prayers — I’m certainly glad you’re safe!

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