Volcano charges filed
November 30, 2020 2:53 PM   Subscribe

A year ago 47 people, mostly tourists, were on Whakaari / White Island when the volcano erupted killing 22 people and injuring most of the rest. Today New Zealand authorities filed 13 safety violation charges against 10 organizations and three individuals. Each of the organizations faces a maximum fine of NZ$1.5 million (US$1.1 million). Each individual charged faces a maximum fine of NZ$300,000 (US$211,000).
posted by Mitheral (23 comments total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 
My wife and I visited it in 2013 with White Island Tours (one of the organizations facing charges). The legal release we had to sign had this text: "Due to the safety hazards involved with boating and visiting an active volcano, the recommended minimum age is 8 years." We thought that phrasing was really funny at the time, but obviously not anymore.

We knew there were risks and we were okay with that. But the company did give the impression that they were taking reasonable precautions, that they'd cancel tours if the volcano seemed more turbulent than usual, etc. It's one of the few times I'd have assumed a business's self-interest would translate into somewhat appropriate safeguards.

I'm really curious to see what comes out of this, and find out how naïve I actually was.
posted by Riki tiki at 3:47 PM on November 30, 2020 [8 favorites]


Outside Magazine did a deep dive into the White Island eruption story last spring.
posted by suelac at 4:22 PM on November 30, 2020 [16 favorites]


The text of that warning is an exemplar why I don't accept the "everyone signed on for the risks" framing. Someone reading that would think "oh, well, they don't want small children who might fall off the boat or have trouble walking around in rough terrain" not "there's a significant chance your nine-year old might get roasted alive and you are signing on for that risk."
posted by tavella at 4:39 PM on November 30, 2020 [24 favorites]


Yeah, I’ve been there, as well. So surreal reading about this hellish situation at a place that I have such fond memories about...
posted by chasing at 5:05 PM on November 30, 2020


But was it a significant chance? Out of all the groups that visited, only these were caught, so what does that risk work out to?

I live in Tornado Alley and chances are good I'll never get killed by one. But they're not zero. Same with living in California; earthquakes might get you, or not.

From the Outside article, no one really thought there was a high chance of the type of explosion that occurred. They thought they had a monitoring system that did keep them safe. Until the volcano surprised them.

The government seems to be saying they should have rated the safety differently, and when their monitor got over 1, to not take tours. But the Outside article says that tours were allowed at 1 and 2 ratings. The tour company seems to be saying that they never got clarification from the government on whether going in while the monitor was at 2 was still safe.

I don't think I can tell if the fault was truly with the tour companies, or with the government, or with neither, and the government is looking for a scapegoat because they are being pressured by tourist lawsuits.

It's a hell of a thing to happen and I feel so bad for those families.
posted by emjaybee at 5:26 PM on November 30, 2020 [9 favorites]


It sounds like the government is one of the groups facing charges, which is kind of interesting.

"However, GNS Science, which is responsible for monitoring volcanic activity on the island; the National Emergency Management Agency (Civil Defence); and tour operators Volcanic Air and Ngāti Awa-owned White Island Tours have all confirmed they are facing charges."
posted by rodlymight at 5:46 PM on November 30, 2020 [3 favorites]


It sounds like the government is one of the groups facing charges, which is kind of interesting.

That's correct. And also, although it's a company, GNS Science is owned by the government.

A small note on emjaybee's comment: the tourists won't be able to sue the government (or anyone). New Zealand has an (I believe) unique system of fault-free accident insurance that covers both medical costs and loss of earnings, but in exchange people are unable to sue for those things.
posted by Pink Frost at 5:56 PM on November 30, 2020 [5 favorites]


This 60 Minutes documentary is a bit jaw dropping. You can hear a guide on the island saying to one of the victims that level three is an eruption, and that they're on a level two nearing level three (around the four minute mark).
posted by MattWPBS at 6:05 PM on November 30, 2020 [7 favorites]


22 deaths is a lot more than I remembered.

For comparison, 47 died in the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens.
posted by jamjam at 7:31 PM on November 30, 2020 [3 favorites]


I agree with rodlymight, a really fascinating part of this story seems to be that one NZ government agency can file charges against another. Translating this in my head to USA terms, it seems like their version of OSHA is suing or fining their version of FEMA. I wonder if that is an effective way to structure a government and how often it is used. But I am definitely very intrigued, and wondering how I can learn more.
posted by seasparrow at 7:33 PM on November 30, 2020 [2 favorites]


In Canada, the Public Prosecution Service has sued a federal department for violations of the Canada Labour Code following a boiler explosion in 2009. The department pled guilty.
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 7:50 PM on November 30, 2020 [3 favorites]


22 deaths is a lot more than I remembered.

I thought this too, and it may be partly because the toll slowly increased over a few weeks as individuals died from their injuries, and the missing became confirmed causalities.

I remember at the time how horrific the stories of the hundreds of thousands of square inches of skin being imported for grafts were, and the stories from the medical workers - especially first responders - on what they saw. The most recent death from injuries suffered was in July of this year (but only reported in November) - a man who was still been treated in hospital nearly eight months after the eruption.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 8:21 PM on November 30, 2020 [8 favorites]


Ugh, that's horrific. It almost seems like one of those times modern medicine is in a way worse because it allows you to linger on rather than having a quick death. Problem is, you can't know in advance which way it's going to go. If it's eight months and then you live out the rest of your life fairly normally it's a miracle, but hanging on that long before dying anyway seems closer to torture.

Happily, in many cases it's a choice the patient gets to make for themselves.
posted by wierdo at 9:03 PM on November 30, 2020 [3 favorites]


The horrifying part for me is that it seems this sort of burn injury is almost akin to heavy radiation poisoning...in the moments just after the incident, it seems like you're doing...well, if not ok, you're alive, and surely you'll get better?...but it's not how that works.
posted by maxwelton at 10:57 PM on November 30, 2020 [2 favorites]


Add in the chance to sail between three rock stacks said to be the gates to the Maori underworld and you had an experience that the guidebooks called unmissable.

Technically the experience of dying is unmissable. But that doesn't make me want to do it today. It belongs at the very end of a very long bucket list.

I will never, never, never understand what compels people to go near active volcanoes when their circumstances give them the choice not to. That awesome mountain you're looking at? All of that rock came up from under the ground. And when it did it was molten. The ground you're standing on is just a crusty anomaly on a huge ball of molten fiery death and it seems to me that keeping well to the middle of your own crusty flake is sound personal policy.

The Earth is so much bigger than you, and so doesn't give a shit whether you live or die, and to my way of thinking those two facts are worthy of at least a little contemplation and respect.
posted by flabdablet at 11:51 PM on November 30, 2020 [4 favorites]


It was about the thrill of feeling a little more alive by feeling a little closer to death, all the while knowing that, really, you were in no more danger than you would be crossing a road.

Sorry, no.

The risk of being struck by a large fast-moving object I failed to notice approaching is one I can reduce by paying attention to my surroundings. Being instantly and irrevocably flash-broiled by an eruption I didn't need to be anywhere near in the first place, not so much.

Any time I want to be thrilled by feeling a little more alive, all I need to do is go outside and sit under a tree and breathe and contemplate the fragility of the whole enterprise and the incomprehensible luck that lets me keep on being a part of it. Or go for a midnight dip in the river on the night of the winter solstice (if it's not in flood that year). Volcanoes? Nope nope nope nope nope nope.
posted by flabdablet at 12:04 AM on December 1, 2020 [14 favorites]


The details of the charges against GNS Science haven't been released yet, but I don't see how they can be faulted for failing to give adequate warning of an eruption. The NZ Volcanic Alert Level system has 6 levels (starting from zero) and was at level 2, the highest level short of an active eruption on the morning of (and for several weeks prior to) the eruption. So what should it have been then? Are they supposed to predict the exact day and hour of the eruption? There is an excessive culture of "accountability" in New Zealand, everything bad that happens to someone has to be someone else's fault.
posted by L.P. Hatecraft at 1:04 AM on December 1, 2020 [1 favorite]


Any time I want to be thrilled by feeling a little more alive, all I need to do is go outside and sit under a tree and breathe and contemplate the fragility of the whole enterprise and the incomprehensible luck that lets me keep on being a part of it.
It is quite the experience, but not a thrill seeking one. I was at Eyjafjallajökul around late March/early April 2010 while it was erupting but before it really kicked off. Don't regret it at all and would do it again. But I didn't go without a decent idea of the risk I think (and you can of course see exactly the scale of the thing you're getting close to), and I didn't go out of thrill seeking but to witness something otherwise very impressive. There wasn't any thrill coming from the personal risk at all.

I'd be a lot more cautious (as in I wouldn't do it) about a not-erupting volcano that's at a high alert than one that's already been erupting for a while though. It's a lot more difficult for anyone especially a layperson to get any idea of the risk with something that might be about to explode.
posted by edd at 8:12 AM on December 1, 2020


It was about the thrill of feeling a little more alive by feeling a little closer to death, all the while knowing that, really, you were in no more danger than you would be crossing a road.

Some people feel the urge to find out how much it would take to kill them.

To be exposed to raw nature without the benefit of the tools and knowledge that we as a species have used to keep ourselves alive and thriving. They want to see how long they can last in the face of what is essentially limitless power to snuff out their lives, power so far beyond them that would not even notice their presence, much less their death.

These people end up starving at an abandoned bus or playing tourist at a volcano that is suddenly spewing lava at them.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 8:17 AM on December 1, 2020


I really doubt that a bunch of families who signed on to a day trip from a cruise ship were actually feeling "the urge to find out how much it would take to kill them".
posted by tavella at 10:13 AM on December 1, 2020 [6 favorites]


Some people feel the urge to find out how much it would take to kill them.

To be exposed to raw nature without the benefit of the tools and knowledge that we as a species have used to keep ourselves alive and thriving. They want to see how long they can last in the face of what is essentially limitless power to snuff out their lives, power so far beyond them that would not even notice their presence, much less their death.

These people end up starving at an abandoned bus or playing tourist at a volcano that is suddenly spewing lava at them.
I think the point with the Whakaari eruption is that these people didn't feel that urge. They felt the urge to go on a cruise ship excursion to see a safe volcano, take some interesting photos, make some memories and come back to the ship. They weren't given the information that the volcano was nearing an eruption, let alone that they could get to find out how long they could survive in the face of "limitless power to snuff out their lives".
posted by MattWPBS at 10:18 AM on December 1, 2020 [10 favorites]


Different fact patterns, legal system, and everything else, but GNS being charged reminds me of the Italian officials charged and convicted of manslaughter for failing to give adequate warning of an earthquake that killed more than 300 people. I understand they were exonerated of the charges several years later.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 10:58 AM on December 1, 2020


I really doubt that a bunch of families who signed on to a day trip from a cruise ship were actually feeling "the urge to find out how much it would take to kill them".

not back in 2019, anyway
posted by ryanrs at 2:40 PM on December 1, 2020 [8 favorites]


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