Ruapehu alert level drops

New Plymouth: The volcanic alert level for Mt Ruapehu has been reduced to one.

The largest earthquake was on December 26, measuring a magnitude of 2.2.

Bay of Plenty Civil Defence said activity on the mountain had decreased over the past two weeks.

It said gas emissions were back to normal levels and volcanic tremors had declined.

GNS science said temperatures in the crater lake remained high but that was not of concern. — RNZ