Effective disaster response

This is week-old news in New Zealand but I thought some of you might find it interesting.

Mt. Ruapehu [39°16'43.35"S, 175°34'1.44"E] is an active volcano in Tongariro National Park (middle of the North Island). It last reupted in 1995-96. The eruption created a dam of ash that held water in Crater Lake on top of Ruapehu. On Christmas Eve, 1953, an eariler dam on Crater Lake broke and let a bunch of water loose, creating a lahar. The lahar damaged a railway bride downstream just minutes before a train from Auckland to Wellington tried to cross it. 151 people of the 285 people on the train died in the accident.

Since the last eruption 10 years ago they've been keeping an eye on the newest dam and the water levels in Crater Lake. Scientists predicted another lahar would happen inevitably- it was just a matter of time. So, they devised a warning system to alert people at risk, close roads, and stop trains. On March 18, the inevitable happened and everything went according to plan!

Here are some links to articles about it with images and video:
Mt. Ruapehu
Crater Lake status (images and video)
Article about lahar

It's just so great to hear about an emergency response plan that worked!

Carrie