Netflix The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I can't make myself watch. The rescue agencies just left those people there to die.

That’s not exactly true. The doc explains this.

I just watched it and it seems like that’s exactly what happened.

My takeaway was that the island was more than an hour away by boat, and the fumes from the volcano made the airspace dangerous. It was heroic of the men who flew there to power through and take the risk with their helicopter and plane, but it’s not like the authorities were completely indifferent to the tragedy that was unfolding. I’m open to a different perspective, but that’s the picture that was painted for me in the doc.

I’m just going off what I saw in the documentary but the officials just seemed completely unprepared and uncoordinated. It was shocking to me that they lived in sight of a recently active volcano and had no basic response procedures for how they would communicate and act in the event of a disaster. I kept wanting to yell at the screen - didn’t you all know this could happen?!

Yes, and the tour operators didn’t seem to have any training or prep for this scenario. The woman on her honeymoon asked what happens if there’s an eruption, and they had no answer for her. How were they allowed to operate without any kind of plan in place?

+1

Burn kit?

[Anonymous]

New Zealand
Backwards enough to declare the islands a no fly zone
This despite messages from a helicopter that flew there and was ok

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those that have WaPo, I thought this editorial published in the wake of the eruption was interesting.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how-tourists-take-their-lives-into-their-own-hands/2019/12/22/668a30d8-2342-11ea-bed5-880264cc91a9_story.html

The author, a professor at NYU, writes about how proximity to danger is marketed as attractive, but there is little discussion of the risk the tourists will be taking, just a blanket assumption of “everyone’s been fine before.” On a family trip, his 8 year old son Owen died while whitewater rafting.

(after reading this op-ed, I got the author’s book from the library. it’s an excellent account of the trip, including the dynamic of attractive-danger/hidden-risks, and his and his surviving family’s reaction to his son’s death. The book is called Disaster Falls, the name of the stretch of river where his son died. this is a free-to-access article from the author’s college alumni magazine covering some of the same ground: https://www.haverford.edu/college-communications/news/disaster-falls)

Thank you for posting this. I recently lost a child. It is very meaningful.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Don't you think those visitors signed up for it knowing it was an active volcano?

This is a really sad story but also a cautionary tale to heed warnings. Thrw agency in New Zealand had an increased risk warning for tourists as did the tour company. I am sorry for the people who lost their lives but it’s kind of like when people go to North Korea for a tour.

Agreed. Some of the tourists in the documentary talked about how much they loved doing 'adventurous' things. But adventure, especially in nature, comes with a risk. Perhaps the tour company could have made the risk clearer (along with the fact that the volcano had been at a higher alert level for several weeks, to the point where government scientists were not allowed to go to it for fieldwork), but I wonder if even then some tourists would have still chosen to go 'for the adventure'.

This is not true. Government scientists were allowed to go. They just happened to not have any trips scheduled in the week or so right before the eruption, but they had been going before that. There was never a time when the scientists determined it was too dangerous for them to go. They knew the volcano was at increased risk of erupting but had no idea an eruption was imminent. You can Google for lots of articles about how and why scientists didn’t predict the eruption.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/122190537/gns-banned-scientists-from-going-near-vents-a-week-before-white-island-eruption-claimed-21-lives

Did you read the article? The govt scientists were not banned from going to the island until Dec 10.

Really why post if you haven't even read it beyond the title?!?

The article says (and you confirm) that scientists were banned from going a week before the eruption, but tourists were still being allowed to go and get close to the crater. Not sure what you think I'm missing here - I did read the article entirely and I think my point stands.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I think they said the volcano was a level two but the guests didn't know what that meant. Apparently there are only 3 levels. so yeah, pretty serious but tourists probably thought it was out of 5 or 10 and again, assumed they wouldn't go there if it was really dangerous. I mean the guides didn't have any trepidation. That's an excursion I totally would have chosen.

It’s not hard to google what does level 2 mean. It goes 0,1,2,3 with 3 meaning currently erupting. So level 2 means eruption imminent. Yes the tourism should stop at level 2 but money talks. Anyone that visits a volcano should educate themselves on levels and unless they are a volcanologist or the volcano is labeled extinct or dormant they should stay far away.

They explained it as 1-2-3 on the documentary. Seems like they need to differentiate risk more for level 2. Something like 2A, 2B, 2C, etc.

+1. They said that 1 was dormant and 3 was erupting. So, a pretty useless system as is.

https://www.geonet.org.nz/about/volcano/val

it is a 0-5 scale. Not hard to google.

[Anonymous]

For those who have watched, what age range would this be appropriate for? My DD is 12 and likes documentaries like this but I don't know if it will be scary. She really liked the thailand cave rescue one and was not scared by that fwiw.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those who have watched, what age range would this be appropriate for? My DD is 12 and likes documentaries like this but I don't know if it will be scary. She really liked the thailand cave rescue one and was not scared by that fwiw.

I don’t think my 15 year old could handle it. It’s very hard to watch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those who have watched, what age range would this be appropriate for? My DD is 12 and likes documentaries like this but I don't know if it will be scary. She really liked the thailand cave rescue one and was not scared by that fwiw.

I'm not even going to watch it.

[Anonymous]

I’m sooo skittish about danger on TV but I found it boring. Way more freaked by human danger than these people walked to a volcano and got burned or died. I think the scariest part is the people left to die.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those who have watched, what age range would this be appropriate for? My DD is 12 and likes documentaries like this but I don't know if it will be scary. She really liked the thailand cave rescue one and was not scared by that fwiw.

I didn’t think it was scary, or graphic or gory in any way. No bad language that I can remember.
Be prepared for some of the survivors to reveal their burn marks and injuries toward the end. It was more upsetting than anything else, especially when you realize one of the survivors lost his entire family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't you think those visitors signed up for it knowing it was an active volcano?

This is a really sad story but also a cautionary tale to heed warnings. Thrw agency in New Zealand had an increased risk warning for tourists as did the tour company. I am sorry for the people who lost their lives but it’s kind of like when people go to North Korea for a tour.

Does anyone know what "increased risk" means? This is like having a minor surgery and being told there is a risk of death, choking, etc. We are constantly told about risk and asked to sign waivers. If there was actual substantial risk, that's totally different. The documentary makes clear that the volcano had previously erupted in 2013 and 2016 and it was 2019. It really should have been closed off.

Weird that it was every 3 years, like clockwork!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't make myself watch. The rescue agencies just left those people there to die.

That’s not exactly true. The doc explains this.

I just watched it and it seems like that’s exactly what happened.

Disagree, every living person was rescued.

I was so impressed with that young man who lost the rest of his family! Talk about PTSD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those who have watched, what age range would this be appropriate for? My DD is 12 and likes documentaries like this but I don't know if it will be scary. She really liked the thailand cave rescue one and was not scared by that fwiw.

I didn’t think it was scary, or graphic or gory in any way. No bad language that I can remember.
Be prepared for some of the survivors to reveal their burn marks and injuries toward the end. It was more upsetting than anything else, especially when you realize one of the survivors lost his entire family.

I think she is too young. It’s very upsetting. The one about the cave rescue might be better. I just showed my 6-11 year olds free solo and that was a nice balance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't make myself watch. The rescue agencies just left those people there to die.

That’s not exactly true. The doc explains this.

I just watched it and it seems like that’s exactly what happened.

Disagree, every living person was rescued.

I was so impressed with that young man who lost the rest of his family! Talk about PTSD.

Huh? They were rescued, but not by the rescue agencies. Other people bravely stepped in to do their job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't you think those visitors signed up for it knowing it was an active volcano?

This is a really sad story but also a cautionary tale to heed warnings. Thrw agency in New Zealand had an increased risk warning for tourists as did the tour company. I am sorry for the people who lost their lives but it’s kind of like when people go to North Korea for a tour.

Does anyone know what "increased risk" means? This is like having a minor surgery and being told there is a risk of death, choking, etc. We are constantly told about risk and asked to sign waivers. If there was actual substantial risk, that's totally different. The documentary makes clear that the volcano had previously erupted in 2013 and 2016 and it was 2019. It really should have been closed off.

Weird that it was every 3 years, like clockwork!

Until this year…although we do have a few days left.