(The first in a series of Trogg’s Rants)
Is it just me or is it false economy not to do something about the lahar risk on Mt Ruapehu?
In case you were not aware the crater lake is filling with water and is just about at the level of a pile of volcanic ash that is blocking the usual outflow. Sometime in the next few months the water level will get high enough to waterlog this dam which will cause it to collapse and allow the excess water (now mixed with the ash) to flow down the side of the mountain.
Remember the stories about the Tangiwai rail disaster from history at school? Well this will be a similar (but potentially smaller event) and according to one article in the
NZ Herald it will ONLY cost approx $68,000 to pay someone to spend a couple of days on the mountain to make a channel through the ash pile so that the water level can't get high enough to cause a sudden collapse.
Isn't it better to spend that money than wait for the inevitable to happen and risk lives on the ski fields or mountain trampers etc (at the least) and then spend even more of the taxpayer’s money on rebuilding the infrastructure that is damaged or destroyed?
Another example of political short sightedness perhaps? :shrug: