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Why Were Tourists Allowed to Visit an Active New Zealand Volcano? [View all]
Source: New York Times
Why Were Tourists Allowed to Visit an Active New Zealand Volcano?
Visitors were allowed to tour the mouth of the White Island volcano despite recent warnings about bursts of gas and steam.
By Jamie Tarabay and Damien Cave
Dec. 10, 2019
Updated 12:46 p.m. ET
-snip-
“A rolling rumbling mass of ash tumbled over the cliff face, in all directions, and it completely engulfed the island,” said Mr. Hopkins, a 50-year-old pastor. “It cut out the sun, it went dark. You couldn’t see that there was an island there. It was completely covered in ash."
That Mr. Hopkins, his daughter and dozens of others were allowed to go near the island — let alone scale the crater at its center — when geologists had repeatedly warned of increased volcanic activity is now the subject of an investigation, with the death toll from the eruption Monday having risen to six. As of Tuesday afternoon, eight others were also believed to have died, with emergency workers still unable to reach the island to retrieve them.
And the question heard over and over in the long hours since, heard as the injured were carried to the docks, is: “Why?”
Why was anyone — from retirees to children — allowed to tour the crater of an active volcano, despite warnings about bursts of gas and steam in recent weeks? Why would tour operators and cruise lines tout an adventure ride, with prices starting at $260 per child, at such risk?
And why, as of Tuesday, were there no clear answers to who is ultimately accountable for ensuring visitors’ safety: the family that owns the remote island, or the government charged with enforcing health and safety regulations?
“There has to be more respect for nature. We can’t assume we can access anything we want,” said Jozua van Otterloo, a volcanologist at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, who visited White Island — also known by its Maori name of Whakaari — in 2012. “This is something policymakers and the public need to consider. Even though this is such a great place, should we be allowing people to go in such large numbers?”
-snip-
Visitors were allowed to tour the mouth of the White Island volcano despite recent warnings about bursts of gas and steam.
By Jamie Tarabay and Damien Cave
Dec. 10, 2019
Updated 12:46 p.m. ET
-snip-
“A rolling rumbling mass of ash tumbled over the cliff face, in all directions, and it completely engulfed the island,” said Mr. Hopkins, a 50-year-old pastor. “It cut out the sun, it went dark. You couldn’t see that there was an island there. It was completely covered in ash."
That Mr. Hopkins, his daughter and dozens of others were allowed to go near the island — let alone scale the crater at its center — when geologists had repeatedly warned of increased volcanic activity is now the subject of an investigation, with the death toll from the eruption Monday having risen to six. As of Tuesday afternoon, eight others were also believed to have died, with emergency workers still unable to reach the island to retrieve them.
And the question heard over and over in the long hours since, heard as the injured were carried to the docks, is: “Why?”
Why was anyone — from retirees to children — allowed to tour the crater of an active volcano, despite warnings about bursts of gas and steam in recent weeks? Why would tour operators and cruise lines tout an adventure ride, with prices starting at $260 per child, at such risk?
And why, as of Tuesday, were there no clear answers to who is ultimately accountable for ensuring visitors’ safety: the family that owns the remote island, or the government charged with enforcing health and safety regulations?
“There has to be more respect for nature. We can’t assume we can access anything we want,” said Jozua van Otterloo, a volcanologist at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, who visited White Island — also known by its Maori name of Whakaari — in 2012. “This is something policymakers and the public need to consider. Even though this is such a great place, should we be allowing people to go in such large numbers?”
-snip-
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/10/world/asia/new-zealand-volcano.html
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