More Volcano Stuff

New Zealand sits on the Pacific Rim of Fire, as you may know.  We have a number of active volcanoes and indeed Auckland our largest city and my home, is built on a approximately 50 volcanoes, all long dormant.  It’s been 600 years since we had an eruption in the Auckland volcanic field.  Some of our larger volcanoes however, have erupted quite recently.  Mt Ruapehu and White Island are some of our most Active New Zealand Volcanoes with regular eruptions on White Island which sits just off the East Coast from Whakatane and Mt Ruapehu which sits in the Central Plateau area of the North Island having erupted in the last 10 years.

Just this weekend, the Crater lake at Mt Ruapehu on the North Islands central plateau finally let loose with a lahar that has been threatening since before Christmas.  Thankfully a well oiled machine swung into action, minimal damage and no loss of life as a result.  Still it’s a timely reminder that we live on a geologically active earth.

 This picture from the NZ Herald shows the Lahar thundering down the Whangaehu River north of the Tangiwhai Bridge.

Our Volcanoes are beautiful and dangerous, yet we are used to them and the fact that we live with them I think tends to lead to a lack of respect for how dangerous they could be if we don’t respect them as dangerous natural hazards.  Especially for us in Auckland.  Because our volcanoes are dormant, we tend to think of them as extinct.  We use them as our playgrounds, for example this picture of Rangitoto, Aucklands youngest volcanoe which sits just outside the harbour, a major landmark in our front yard so to speak.  We don’t worry too much about them.  While we shouldn’t live our lives as if at any moment the world might erupt, but we do have to be mindful of nature.