This decade of disaster
The decade has ended as shockingly as it began - in tragedy, and with a catastrophic loss of life. Reporting by Virginia Fallon, Luke Malpass and Harrison Christian.
They called to their dead before dawn. As Whakaari/White Island slumbered in the darkness, the boatload of people moored off her shores called across the water to their siblings, their children, their parents.
They called for them to come home, and they called to Whakaari to give them up.
And she did. Some of them.
On Friday morning, the families of those who died on the island got the closest to their loved ones that they had been in days.
Since Monday’s eruption they had gathered on the shore at nearby Whakata¯ ne, at the marae, and in private, to wait – the danger too high to get any nearer.
But finally, accompanied by members of the Nga¯ ti Awa iwi, and supported by police, they were within calling distance.
There were 47 people on Whakaari when she erupted on Monday afternoon. Since then, eight people have died of their injuries, six bodies were recovered from the island, and two are missing, presumed dead.
Twenty three survivors are still in critical condition.
Tour guide Hayden Marshall-Inman is one of the lost; brother Mark was on Friday’s dawn trip and says it went a long way to comfort mourning families.
‘‘It was something special, a moment to cherish forever, to be able to get as close as we could to our loved ones, to call out to them, to bless them, it was truly magical.’’
Those gathered on the boat shared prayers and ‘‘thank yous’’ and speeches: ‘‘It was very peaceful.’’
Although only six victims were returned to their loved ones on Friday, members of all the families gathered at Whakata¯ ne Airport in the afternoon to be with the bodies recovered earlier that day.
There was time to be together before goodbyes were said again when the bodies were flown to Auckland for identification. Some families travelled to Auckland as well.
‘‘Now we just wait for the coroner’s report so we know who’s who,’’ said Inman.
Meanwhile, they would be praying to get everyone back.
‘‘We want everyone home now.’’
Watching from afar, one man – Tony Kokshoorn – was transported back to a decade earlier, and the Pike River Mine disaster. They’re different events occurring at opposite ends of the past decade, but the former Grey District mayor couldn’t help seeing the similarities.
Frustrated families trying to recover their loved ones; risk-averse authorities initially holding back, trying to prevent further tragedy.
‘‘Sadly, what [you saw] unfold at White Island is like those first days at Pike in some ways – who makes the call? And how quickly can they go over and get those bodies?’’
For the families of the White Island victims, there was relief when police announced there would be a recovery mission.
The Pike River families are still waiting to bring their men home.
When Parliament opened its doors last week, passers-by took turns to pay their respects once again to the victims of tragedy.
It was an all too familiar scene. A plain table adorned with two New Zealand flags, two books and two pens, and a condolence book.
Pike River, White Island: We have seen more than our fair share of tragedy over the past decade. The Christchurch massacre in March and the eruption made this year particularly traumatic.
In the daring mission on Friday, elite military teams used helicopters to recover six bodies, braving corrosive gases and the risk of another eruption.
Yesterday police divers resumed their relentless search for another body spotted in the water, battling poor visibility and contamination.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said: ‘‘There will be questions that will need to be answered and will be, by the appropriate authorities,’’ but the Government was focused on those affected.
But questions are already being asked about whether as a nation we are too blase about risk, and how long that has been the case.
Before the Pike River tragedy in 2010 there was Strongman, a mining disaster that killed 19 men in 1967.
Kokshoorn says West Coasters are resilient and community-minded people: they have had to be. It’s a place where nature has the last say.
‘‘We’ve got memorials all around the place for disasters and that’s just the way we live.’’
But memories faded. A ‘‘she’ll be right’’ attitude crept in and the cycle continued.
A Royal Commission into what went wrong at Pike River blamed poor workplace safety practices and lax oversight by authorities.
The West Coast was booming. Coal was at a premium and miners were offered a $10,000 bonus if they could reach a production tonnage by the end of the month. People took shortcuts and ignored regulations.
Just months later, disaster struck again; the Christchurch earthquake killed 185 people and injured many more.
Among the tales of heroism and tragedy, there was also evidence of catastrophic failure. The CTV Building collapsed, killing 115 people, and an inquiry later blamed engineering faults.
And at White Island, the tourism continued, even after the risk level was raised following a spate of volcanic activity.
The result of this series of events over the past decade is that New Zealand as a nation has had to look more closely at risk – and how it is assessed – than most other countries have had to.
The earthquakes since 2010 have introduced a whole new language and there is now a live website tracking tremors around the country.
Most of us are able to name major faultlines and assess what various magnitudes and depths mean
‘‘It was something special, a moment to cherish forever, to be able to get as close as we could to our loved ones, to call out to them, to bless them, it was truly magical.’’ Mark Inman brother of tour guide Hayden Marshall-Inman
as earthquakes occur.
New Zealand is a geological hotspot, which is part of the reason the landscape is so lucratively interesting for tourists and filmmakers.
Perched on the Pacific Ring of Fire, these isles are active. There are earthquakes, many volcanoes: extinct, dormant and live, as well as mud baths and thermal activity.
That means living in New Zealand is a risky business, something we recognise as a nation, and which we have profited from.
Think extreme sports like bungy jumping, which was pioneered in New Zealand. Some would say New Zealand has risk in its DNA.
Whakata¯ ne, for example, boasted of White Island that: ‘‘Known to Ma¯ ori as Whakaari, White Island is arguably the world’s most accessible active marine volcano. It attracts vulcanologists and sightseers from around the world, offering a breathtaking view of the awesome powers that continue to shape New Zealand in all their spectacular and dramatic glory.’’
Making money off risk – and a healthy appetite for it – is arguably a big part of New Zealand’s tourism industry.
Our ACC scheme operates under a no-fault system; this means that the major driver against risk-taking in other countries – the fear of being sued in case of accidents – is not a concern.
In the wake of last week’s tragedy, people are looking to attribute blame and questions have been raised about whether visitors to White Island were properly warned. But there is also a recognition that they were attracted to the site because of the active volcano and that tourists were given safety briefings and gas masks.
The central North Island’s two skifields – Turoa and Whakapapa – are both on the side of Mt Ruapehu, another active volcano that last had major eruptions in 1995 and 1996.
It has erupted an estimated 60 times since 1945. A 1953 eruption created a lahar – a river of mud, ash and rock debris and water – that weakened the Tangiwai rail bridge and led to New Zealand’s worst rail disaster. The bridge collapsed when the Wellington-Auckland train crossed it, killing 151 people.
Volcanic eruptions are notoriously hard to predict.
In an opinion piece published by Stuff this week, Shane Cronin, professor of earth sciences, University of Auckland, wrote: ‘‘White Island is one of several volcanoes in New Zealand that can produce sudden explosive eruptions at any time. In this case, magma is shallow, and the heat and gases affect surface and ground water to form vigorous hydrothermal systems.’’
New Zealand is not just living with the risk from volcanoes. Earthquakes are also a part of everyday life.
In Wellington, which sits on a major faultline, insurer AIG has announced that it would adopt a new ‘‘conservative’’ approach to home insurance policies in the capital, citing the earthquake risk.
Wellington is expected to experience a big event sometime in the next 100 years. The cost of insurance has risen significantly and the assessments are more localised. House buyers are routinely advised by their lawyer to get written confirmation from an insurer that the property they are looking to purchase would be covered.
Considering that AIG underwrites home and contents insurance sold by Westpac, ASB Bank and BNZ, its new approach to assessing risk is significant. It underwrites approximately half the insurance policies in Wellington.
The fact is that New Zealand is a relatively risky place to live – and that’s before considering climate change.
The Government will no doubt thoroughly investigate this latest tragedy – but whether it should de-risk a country which economically leverages off risk, will be hotly contested.
Massey University distinguished professor and sociologist Paul Spoonley says the earthquake, and the subsequent mosque shootings at Christchurch this year, have defined the decade.
He views New Zealand as an adolescent nation, which has been forced to mature in the face of such crises.
A new resilience has been imposed on us. ‘‘When you’re looking at the narrative of a country, we tend to focus on the positives – the All Blacks, the fact we’re really good at getting by with a piece of No. 8 wire – and I think tragedies are equally as important,’’ said Spoonley.
‘‘I think our complacency has been knocked, and our relaxed attitude to a number of things has had to change.’’
In modern New Zealand history, hundreds of people have been killed by earthquakes and volcanoes. The 20th century saw a litany of air crashes and shipwrecks. In 1918, an influenza pandemic killed more than 8600 people.
But the mosque shootings, where 51 Muslims were gunned down in prayer, were different because they were planned, targeted, gratuitous. They led Spoonley at the time to declare an ‘‘end of our innocence’’.
‘‘You’re never going to prevent an earthquake. All you can do is limit the amount of damage. But could we have prevented the mosque shootings?’’
New Zealand sits in the middle of a deep ocean, riddled with volcanoes and faultlines. So what are the risks of living here?
There’s an extremely low likelihood of being killed in a natural disaster. Kiwis are much more likely to die from natural causes, disease, or injury.
The most deadly natural disasters in modern New Zealand history were earthquakes, which have killed a total of almost 500 people. The highest death toll from an earthquake was caused by the one that struck Napier in 1931, killing almost 260 people. The Christchurch earthquake in 2011 killed 185.
Compared with other countries, New Zealand is regarded as being at low risk of disasters. The countries with the most deaths from natural disasters and the most frequent episodes are China, India, the United States, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
Earthquakes are more deadly in developing countries such as Haiti which have concentrated, poorly built urban areas. A 2006 earthquake there killed an estimated 230,000 people.
Volcanoes are New Zealand’s second-biggest killer, claiming at least 315 lives – not including the toll from White Island. The most severe event was the eruption at Tarawera, which killed up to 153 people.
New Zealand is regarded as at risk of tsunami because it’s next to the Hikurangi subduction zone, where a tectonic plate forces itself beneath another plate.
Subduction zone faults had been responsible for most of the world’s deadliest earthquakes and tsunamis to date, with Japan 2011 being the most recent example.
Records show ancient ‘‘paleotsunami’’ have occurred along most of the coastline, concentrated along the east and west coasts of the upper North Island.
But in historical record, only one person was recorded as dying in a tsunami, in the 1860s.
Niwa marine geologist Philip Barnes said the Hikurangi subduction zone was arguably the biggest seismic hazard that New Zealand faced, ‘‘likely to generate the largest magnitude earthquakes and the most devastating tsunami’’.
Although the zone is ‘‘very active,’’ in modern history there haven’t been any ‘‘large events’’ on the plate interface.
‘‘We’re not sure where we are in the seismic cycle. Structurally it poses a huge threat to us, but we don’t know when that might be.’’
‘‘We tend to focus on the positives – the All Blacks, the fact we’re really good at getting by with a piece of No. 8 wire – and I think tragedies are equally as important.’’
Paul Spoonley Massey University sociologist