How emergency services coped with deadly Whakaari eruption
Samantha Olley talks with first responders about their reactions to the volcanic tragedy six months ago
Today marks half a year since “New Zealand came together as one big team” in a bid to save lives after the big Whakaari/White Island blow.
St John medical director Dr Tony Smith still sheds tears thinking about the “sheer volume” of badly burned patients on December 9.
But he is proud of the way tourist operators, emergency services and hospitals across the country responded on the “incredibly challenging” day.
The crater lake at the nation’s most active volcano exploded two weeks before Christmas, fatally injuring 21 of the 47 people on the island.
The harrowing injuries deeply affected Smith and many colleagues. For the first time in his career, he sought help from workplace-provided psychologists to cope.
“What these patients experienced was hot acid, also mixed with sulphur. So it had been driven deeply into the skin.”
Their lungs also had “significant chemical damage” from gas inhalation, despite many wearing masks.
Smith says “New Zealand came together as one big team” on December 9 and reiterates that tourist boats, helicopter pilots and Coastguard “played a very significant part in saving lives” at the island, 50km from Whakata¯ne.
St John and rescue helicopter services did not immediately allow medics to fly there.
Smith’s helicopter was sent from Ardmore to Whakata¯ne Airport but was sent to the island after five minutes in Whakata¯ne. It was “a very small delay” but enough of one to stir public criticism.
“We absolutely acknowledge that controversy,” Smith says, reflecting six months on.
“There are people who hold the view that we should have gone straight away [to Whakaari] without going to the airfield and I know of other people who believe we shouldn’t have gone [to the island], and people who have criticised us for landing.
“Now knowing what has happened to the patients, I can confidently say that had we gone directly to the island ... unfortunately, we were not going to make a difference to those patients.”
Two rescue helicopters landed on the island, leaving Smith and three other paramedics to find the victims as their support hovered above.
They didn’t know there were eight unaccounted for, and they did not find all eight on the island, but those they did find had not survived.
Meanwhile, two Whakata¯ne-based St John staff on a Coastguard boat met survivors on a White Island Tours boat, 10km out from Whakaari.
“They faced a very difficult scene . . . In those circumstances, you don’t have enough hands and you don’t have enough equipment.”
Other St John staff, Fire and Emergency volunteers and police prepared for the tour boat at the boat ramp on shore.
Whakata¯ne chief fire officer Ken Clark gathered his volunteers — about 35 including a handful from hope and Maketu¯ — to explain they’d be stretchering victims who couldn’t walk off the boat.
“I told them there’d be no p****** around, no gawking, we had to just get in and do our job. And to their credit, that’s exactly what they did.” It was unloaded in 40 minutes.
“Police did the assessment . . . They had a felt pen system and they put a mark on each person’s forehead which indicated which way they were to go,” Clark said.
He and other volunteers knew the White Island Tours staff. He warned his team: “You can’t favour that person [you know], just don’t do it.”
The next day Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern shared a morning tea with first responders at the Whakata¯ne Fire Station to thank them. “That was pretty cool,” he says. “A thank you goes a long way.”
It was just as the last victim was being transferred from Whakata¯ne Hospital.
On a normal day, the 110-bed hospital would have one senior and one junior doctor in the emergency department. On December 9 nearly 200 people were helping in ED and the acute care unit.
Besides doctors and nurses, there were Ma¯ori health staff, social workers, occupational therapists, physios, pharmacists, podiatrists, radiographers, health care aides, and Toi Te OOra¯ public health staff.
Lab, stores, kitchen, admin, security and facilities staff were also involved, alongside orderlies, engineers, cleaners and volunteers. Carloads of clinicians came from Tauranga Hospital to support.
The Bay of Plenty District Health Board has declined requests for interviews since December 9 but, in a statement, interim chief executive Simon Everitt said: “Staff were deeply impacted by the scale of trauma they faced.”
Six months on, all Whakaari eruption victims have been discharged from NZ hospitals, but one remains in hospital rehabilitation in Australia.
Today, staff “will take a quiet moment to reflect on the catastrophic event”.
Extraordinary effort
“You can have all the tools and equipment but it is that ethos that allowed us to respond to the disaster quickly,” says the Defence Force Joint Forces Commander, Rear Admiral Jim Gilmour. The “extraordinary commitment” of his colleagues, within minutes, is what he is most proud of.
The NZDF’s immediate response involved more than 100 personnel.
The tragedy “tested all those involved”, Gilmour says.
Police support
Six months on, police are both supporting victims and investigating the 21 deaths on behalf of the Coroner. Health and safety regulator WorkSafe is running a separate inquiry.
Bay of Plenty District Commander Superintendent Andy McGregor said the investigations were “complex”.
“We continue to work closely with international police jurisdictions to support the victims and their families.”
‘Raw emotion’ remains
Whakata¯ne mayor Judy Turner said the “raw emotion” involved still “sits just below the surface but is easily brought back again”, particularly for victims and families.
“A number of us found the recent documentary coverage of the event on television too hard to watch and changed channels.”
The “very proud” mayor says “first responders were nothing short of heroic” and Nga¯ti Awa’s support for affected families was “stunning”. “The unique way of caring for people really shone through.”
Nga¯ti Awa owns White Island Tours and is commemorating the eruption today.
Despite the Whakata¯ne community being “tired and bruised”, Turner says it remains resilient and caring. “We will stand again, as we have done on numerous occasions.”