{"id":501691,"date":"2026-06-29T22:03:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T22:03:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/501691\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T22:03:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T22:03:19","slug":"the-biggest-lesson-from-ruapehus-eruptions-wasnt-scientific","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/501691\/","title":{"rendered":"The biggest lesson from Ruapehu\u2019s eruptions wasn\u2019t scientific"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1995 and 1996, a series of spectacular eruptions from Mt Ruapehu shook the central plateau, triggering lahars, avalanches and explosive jets of steam, hot water and rock.<\/p>\n

Acidic ash spread across much of the central and eastern North Island, disrupting tourism, closing roads and airports, contaminating water supplies, shorting power pylons, damaging crops and killing about 2000 sheep.<\/p>\n

The largest eruption, on 23 September 1995, sent a plume of ash and debris 12km into the sky and hurled rocks kilometres from the crater.<\/p>\n

While no human lives were lost, there were several near misses involving skiers and others on the mountain, exposing the challenges of managing risk in a national park.<\/p>\n

They also uncovered gaps in volcanic risk management, highlighting what was, by today\u2019s standards, a fragmented emergency response.<\/p>\n

Thirty years on, while science and technology advances have boosted the ability to detect and respond to volcanic unrest, there\u2019s also been a cultural change.<\/p>\n

Volcanic risk management is no longer viewed purely as a scientific problem.<\/p>\n

\"\"Richard Smith, director of the Natural Hazards and Resilience research programme Te Pae Turoa. Photo: Supplied <\/p>\n

Richard Smith, director of the Natural Hazards and Resilience research programme Te Pae Turoa, says front of mind today is the importance of building and maintaining relationships across emergency planners and communities of risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t be calling people up at 3am if we don\u2019t know them. We need to have those relationships well ahead of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The eruptions showed researchers and scientists that a broader range of information was needed to manage volcanic risk effectively, Smith says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe communities themselves have knowledge to share. A lot of that communication comes down to relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Geoff Kilgour, chief scientist of Volcanic Hazards at Earth Sciences NZ. Photo: Supplied <\/p>\n

Geoff Kilgour, chief scientist of Volcanic Hazards at Earth Sciences NZ, says one of the greatest legacies of the eruptions is the trust built over the past three decades between scientists, emergency planning agencies and locals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a much better-connected community. Our science is better at understanding things, then we pass that information on to the Department of Conservation (DOC), the Civil Defence sector and even into Police and FENZ.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re much better prepared, we know who to contact, we know who to inform and who to talk to. It\u2019s all looking really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Totally inadequate\u2019<\/p>\n

Harry Keys, a DOC scientist during the eruptions, says emergency plans existed in 1995 but were not well rehearsed and communication between agencies was difficult, largely relying on fax machines.<\/p>\n

\"\"Former Department of Conservation scientist Harry Keys. Photo: Moana Ellis <\/p>\n

\u201cPlans, procedures and policies were totally inadequate,\u201d Keys said.<\/p>\n

One of the biggest needs was to be able \u201cto talk to people \u2013 the police, the councils, the skifield”, Keys says. Coordination needed improvement.<\/p>\n

He says those involved in the emergency response soon identified a need for trusted professional relationships built before an emergency.<\/p>\n

\u201cRelationships work in real time. I\u2019m talking about the first minutes, hour, two hours, five hours, when you have to have to make a series of decisions very quickly. There\u2019s got to be quick communication.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deeper relationships with mana whenua were also integral to an effective response. Keys says collaboration with iwi leaders of the time, such as Ng\u0101ti Rangi\u2019s Matiu Mareikura and Sir Tumu Te Heuheu, then paramount chief of Ng\u0101ti T\u016bwharetoa, brought a sense of calm and reassurance for many in the community, including himself.<\/p>\n

\"\"Sir Tumu Te Heuheu (left) and Matiu Mareikura on the tephra dam at the rim of the crater lake in June 1997. Photo: Supplied\/Harry Keys <\/p>\n

Volcanologist Graham Leonard, general manager of the Geological Hazards Science Mission at Earth Sciences, says response planning is now coordinated among scientists, the monitoring agency, mana whenua, emergency managers, infrastructure providers and DOC through volcanic advisory groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something that was wanting in 1995\/1996 \u2013 having a coordinated view of everyone\u2019s plans, questions and needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leonard says volcanic management has continued to become more collaborative, today integrating mana whenua knowledge alongside scientific and emergency management to better understand and respond to volcanic hazard.<\/p>\n

\u201cMana whenua are closest to the volcano and its activity, and have a whakapapa connection, so they have a very strong interest.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re also really attuned to what\u2019s going on in the environment and the volcano. They\u2019ve got their own perspectives and a very, very long history of observation. It\u2019s a very structured, careful, methodical observation across generations \u2013 and that\u2019s science.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Graham Leonard, general manager of the Geological Hazards Science Mission at Earth Sciences NZ. Photo: Moana Ellis <\/p>\n

Leonard says that \u201call-of-te-taiao\u201d worldview considered alongside the \u201cmathematical science\u201d enhances risk management.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re different knowledge systems but also really beneficial worldviews. Bringing those things beside each other enhances the mana of both, and we can learn from the two.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Risk comes from humans\u2019<\/p>\n

Science has learned much from the M\u0101ori perspective on natural hazards, Leonard says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we\u2019re talking about a volcano, when we\u2019re talking about Koro [Ruapehu], this is what he naturally does. This is a beautiful and natural phenomena and behaviour. It is what we choose to do as humans \u2013 where we choose to live, how we choose to engineer and where we choose to go \u2013 that creates hazard and risk.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Risk] really comes from humans, not the natural environment, and it puts the onus on them to think about their risk management.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were also lessons to learn about resilience, Leonard says<\/p>\n

\u201cRisk management really is an intergenerational thing. What are we doing now for future decades of future generations to be resilient?<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is very similar to kaitiakitanga, and that Te Ao M\u0101ori worldview. The more we think about where and how we\u2019re building, and where we\u2019re choosing to go \u2013 living in harmony with te taiao, with nature and with volcanoes\u2019 way \u2013 the more we\u2019re becoming resilient to risk. M\u0101ori already have that as an inherent value and worldview.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Ruapehu erupts. Photo: Bruce Christenson\/GNS Science <\/p>\n

Ng\u0101ti Rangi environment and cultural development team leader Deanna Wilson says she feels at peace living at the foot of her ancestral maunga.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m always in awe of our maunga. It doesn\u2019t feel like there is activity, even though we know that there is \u2013 he\u2019s a living being \u2013 and so I never, ever feel afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n

But she says there\u2019s room for iwi to take a bigger role in helping communities prepare for and respond to natural hazards.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we have enough of a role at the moment. We\u2019re working with the council through our relationships that we\u2019ve developed since the [treaty] settlements. More and more, we\u2019re having more of an input into the processes.\u201d<\/p>\n

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 1995 and 1996, a series of spectacular eruptions from Mt Ruapehu shook the central plateau, triggering lahars,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":501692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[50073,1861,111,139,69,51972,147],"class_list":["post-501691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-eruption","tag-history","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-ruapehu","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}