The New Zealand Fiasco

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On December 9 at 2:11pm, tourists visiting White Island in New Zealand suddenly felt a rumble beneath their feet. This signals the eruption of the White Island Volcano, which has been dormant since 2001. People lucky enough to have left the island beforehand whipped out their phones and videotaped the eruption. Some videos even depicted people still on the island. The New Zealand authorities quickly organized a search and rescue operation. A no-fly zone was also put in place around the island. Smoke and ash made visibility impossible. 

The nation has suffered many eruptions in roughly around the same area over the past 100 years or so. An earthquake of magnitude 6.3 struck in 2011 even left 185 people dead. Being located right on the Australian tectonic plate’s fault line, it is not abnormal for New Zealanders to suffer many of these natural disasters. This time, however, not only natives were affected by the catastrophe. 

White Island Volcano is an extremely popular tourist spot for many cruise lines. 24 Australians, 9 Americans, 2 Chinese, 4 Germans, 1 Malaysian, 2 British, and 5 New Zealanders were confirmed to be on the island at the time of the eruption. This calls for a total of 47 people. As of now, 5 of the 47 are confirmed dead, 8 missing and presumed dead, 31 people hospitalized, and 3 people who have been checked out of the hospital and are alive. 27 out of the 31 hospitalized have burns that cover at least 30% of their bodies. 

New Zealand's extreme volcanic activity is nothing new. In fact, the nation’s capital, Wellington, is built directly on an active fault line. The largest city in New Zealand is Auckland which has 50 volcanoes, though not all of them are active. Shane Cronin, a volcanologist at Auckland University states that “[volcanic eruptions are] just part of the world we live in." 

As people grow increasingly desperate to find out how many have perished, the search continues. Even in the harshest conditions, rescue teams are fighting to recover those who were lost.