Whakaari White/Island puts spotlight on volcanic tourism safety

Friday, 24 January 2020

A tour group on Whaakari/White Island in February last year. When the eruption occurred on December 9 there were 47 people on the active volcano and 20 of them died.

A daily cap on the number of people who can walk the Tongariro Crossing could be considered in the wake of the Whakaari/White Island disaster.

The December 9 eruption, which killed 20 people and left many survivors with horrific burns, has prompted a review of hazards at all geothermal and volcanic areas on Department of Conservation land.

It is a sign of just how far shock waves from the White Island tragedy have penetrated, and along with the focus on adventure tourism, the safety of less risky visitor experiences is also coming under scrutiny.

Since the Tongariro Crossing was last closed by volcanic activity in 2012, patronage has soared and more than 140,000 people completed the walk last year.

On the afternoon of Monday December 9, 2019 Whakaari White Island erupted while tours were in progress, killing 22 people and injuring 25.

* Whakaari/White Island: Tourism operators offering unregistered adventures risk $50,000 fines

* Department of Conservation finds 'significant failures' in lead-up to Cape Kidnappers landslide

* DOC launches new warnings on Tongariro Alpine Crossing amid safety concerns**

That far surpassed forecasts that numbers would peak at about 100,000 this year, and busy days in summer can see 1500 attempting the challenging six to eight hour hike.

DOC director of heritage and visitor experiences Steve Taylor says a daily cap is something it will consider in future to ease congestion and reduce environmental damage, but it would also have the benefit of reducing the numbers exposed to volcanic risk.

Like other property owners allowing commercial ventures on their land, the department faces prosecution by WorkSafe if it does not meet its health and safety responsibilities.

It therefore has an interest in the results of a modelling exercise commissioned by Ruapehu Alpine Lifts to see if any of the gondola towers for its new $25 million Sky Waka on Mt Ruapehu need strengthening to withstand a lahar (volcanic mudslide).

The Tongariro National Park has an extensive volcanic warning system, but the growing popularity of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing means more people are potentially exposed to an eruption.

Last year DOC also began looking at its obligations in relation to concessionaires operating on the DOC estate, and checking the safety of all short walks and day hikes it promotes.

Those moves followed a damning report on its failure to act over safety concerns about a major cliff face collapse near the Cape Kidnappers gannet colony that seriously injured two Korean tourists who were were swept into the sea.

In the 18 months prior to the slip, safety concerns were raised 14 times, including in presentations to senior departmental managers.

Taylor admits 'a series of systemic failures' were responsible for that situation, but he is confident the creation of the team he now heads will ensure it does not recur, and visitor safety gets the priority it deserves.

In line with that DOC could make it compulsory for concession holders to report 'near miss' incidents, such as clients on guided tours getting lost, so problems like poor signage are logged and addressed.

Volcanic hot spots

There have been eight near misses in the Tongariro National Park since 1945 and former DOC volcanologist Dr Harry Keys says paying attention to close calls helps avoid future tragedy.

Now retired, but still doing some private consulting, he was made an Officer of the NZ Order of Merit in 2008 for his work ensuring public safety following volcanic eruptions.

Keys is looking forward to the findings of WorkSafe's investigation into the White Island disaster and what it reveals about the expertise of those involved in doing safety audits of trips to the active volcano.

'There will be lessons learned at all sorts of levels, government down to the owners and operators, and if the establishment is willing to learn those lessons, everything will be fine.

'That's the thing about adventure tourism on volcanoes, we learn by our mistakes, we learn by near misses.'

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says big questions about Whakaari/White Island must be asked and answered.

When Mt Tongariro's Te Maari crater erupted in August 2012 it spewed boulders the size of cars that landed near a hut with such force they were buried in the ground.

It happened at night in winter, no one was in the hut or on the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. The track was immediately closed and most of it remained so for nine months.

The result could have been a very different if the eruption had occurred during the day in summer and that led to changes in the park's volcanic alert system.

'The [rock] bombs and the broken trees, god it was war zone, worse than Whakaari probably,' Keys says.

GNS Science, which monitors the country's volcanoes, raised the White Island alert to level 2 three weeks before the fatal December eruption.

Helicopter operators and Ngāti Awa-owned White Island Tours continued guided walks of the active volcano.

The latter has not publicly commented in any detail on its decision-making processes, but Ngāti Awa Holdings chairman Paul Quinn told media that at level 3 alerts and above they liaised more directly with GNS, and level 2 was still 'within our operational guidelines.'

Keys has visited the privately-owned volcano five times on recreational and scientific trips.

However, he is reluctant to compare the approach to public safety there with what happens in the Tongariro National Park which has developed a sophisticated monitoring and emergency warning system covering areas such as the Tongariro Alpine Crossing.

'If it goes to alert level 1, and the epicentre [of seismic activity] is within 1 kilometre of the track, the track is closed. At alert level 2 the track is closed irrespective of where it is.'

Safety measures for the park were ramped up after the 2012 eruptions (a second less powerful one in November that year occurred just minutes after helicopter picked up four scientists 200 metres from the crater).

Ruapehu Alpine Lifts a is doing modelling to see if any of the 14 towers for its new $25 million dollar Sky Waka gondola need strengthening to withstand a lahar produced by an eruption of Mt Ruapehu.

The trouble is that volcanos are often unpredictable.

'[Level 2] doesn't mean it is going to erupt, it may well stop and go back to level 1 or 0, and that often happens.

'That's one of the challenges we face, and it's one of the challenges they had on Whakaari.'

But Keys also believes a top class alert system could one day see visits to White Island resume.

'Absolutely. The system at Tongariro National Park is proof of that.

'[It will require] communication, and understanding and humility. The commercial imperative has to be put into perspective.'

Commercial and political pressures

DOC's resident volcanologist in Tongariro National Park works closely with GNS scientists who keep tabs on volcanic rumblings via a network of seismometers, blast detectors, and gas monitors.

Keys says it is entirely appropriate that DOC, rather than GNS, makes the decision to restrict access.

'It is not a scientific function. It would put pressure both on GNS, they'd change their function and start getting distracted from what they are meant to be doing.

'There will be a political pressure for them to do that, but it would be a wrong knee jerk reaction to Whakaari.'

With so many businesses reliant on custom from visitors attracted by the stunning landscapes on iconic walks, closures can have major financial implications, particularly for small towns with little industry outside tourism.

After the 2012 eruption Keys says there was a lot of commercial and political interest in getting the park reopened, and the pressure tends to come on if there are few visible signs of volcanic activity.

Volcanologist Dr Harry Keys at a lahar early warning system sensor site in the Tongariro National Park in 2007.

'Once a volcano starts, then you're on a totally different page … other people see the damage, and they back off and say 'oh, we won't send people up there'.'

'Even business people who are making money, they realise they don't want to get their clients killed.'

Gannet Colony blues

DOC is also feeling the heat over its decision to halt Gannet Beach Adventures tractor trips to Cape Kidnappers and ban beach access until an expert report on 7km of suspect cliffs is completed and peer reviewed, which will take several months.

Tukituki MP Lawrence Yule is highly critical of delays in getting the work done because of the business impact, even though overland trips to the colony can continue.

It is the latest development in a saga which left the department red faced over its rush to promote Cape Kidnappers as a day hike, even though cliff instability and previous near misses clearly made it unsuitable for 'vulnerable visitors' with little experience of the outdoors.

The email trail in a DOC internal investigation shows there was 'operational push' in 2017 to get it signed off so former tourism minister Paula Bennett and conservation minister Maggie Barry could highlight the Cape Kidnappers walk when announcing five new hikes during a visit to Napier.

The day before the ministerial announcement, an assessment of the walk concluded the risk was unacceptable and recommended a geotech report, but DOC opted to proceed.

Concerns were repeatedly raised in the following months, with one staffer warning three areas could cause mass fatalities.

The rockfall danger was covered in presentations to senior departmental managers, but nothing was done until the slip which injured the two tourists a year ago.

'It's easy to speculate what was foremost in people's minds, but the simple answer is that safety was not given the right priority,' Taylor says.

He makes no apology for the increased emphasis on visitor safety, but he says people need to take personal responsibility for their actions too.

'If they choose to ignore the best advice, there's little that can be done.

'We see behaviour, it's almost herd mentality, where people assume that if others are doing it, it must be safe for me.'

Tourism consultant Dave Bamford is the author of a 2014 report DOC commissioned on current and future use of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing and his fear is of an over reaction in the wake of White Island.

'Let's not handrail all of New Zealand's mountains and potential risk areas. It's very timely that we are focusing on adventure tourism risk management, but let's quietly and cautiously listen to the [inquiry] findings.'

Keys echoes that.

'This perception that you can make everything 100 per cent safe, it doesn't happen anywhere in the world, let alone on an active volcano.

'Humans are already closeted enough in their cities, people need to get out and see these things and have adventures. Recreation is really good for people. If we don't do that, it's bad.'