How to stay safe with Ruapehu Lahars

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 242, 10 May 1988, Page 11

How to stay safe with Ruapehu Lahars

By

susannah

Walker

More emphasis is being given to teaching public what to do in a natural disaster within Tongariro National Park. Posters and talks are being used to instruct people how to stay safe in the event of a lahars on Mt Ruapehu. A lahars is a wet mudslide resulting from an eruption. Ruapehu* s last two occurred in 1969 and 1975. Both happened at night and there were no injuries and no major damage. But a park interprer, Lynette

Hartlfey, says if the next lahars occurred in the day-time people could be injured or killed. The Department of Conservation has done what it can to prevent this happening, she says. It set up seismic monitoring equipment near the mountain crater five years ago. She says it is the only systern in the world set up to constantly monitor and detect imminent major natural disasters. The system gives three to seven minutes waming of a lahars. That is how long the department would have to clear the mountain.

But the public must know what to do if this happens, says Lynette Hartley. The Whakapapa ski-field could have 9000 people on it and be divided into two or three sections by mudflows, she says. Transport and communication links would probably be cut. "And even if the warning system does work, we don't know if people will do what they should. "We can only do so much. The rest is up to the public."