
March 18, 2007. The long anticipated lahar finally happened! Steve and I were hired by TV3 News to get the first stabilised aerial shots of the lahar, as well as the aftermath. Features comments by local resident John Archer, who was present in 1953 when a similar lahar caused huge loss of life. Last time, the lahar destroyed a rail bridge, and in the dead of the night with no warning systems in place...a train drove straight off the edge and into the mudslide, most passengers perished. The 1953 incident is New Zealand's worst train disaster. Thankfully this time round nobody was hurt, people were prepared and the whole thing ran like clockwork. They have been waiting for this to happen for years, there were a whole bunch of seismic gadgets at the top of the mountain, as soon as the tremors were detected they sent their signals triggering road and rail closures for miles around...and everyone got out of the way! Was absolutely mind boggling to see and something I'll never forget. Most of the mountain shots were taken on sunrise the following morning, we had to get up the mountain early because of the weather closing in. The crater was covered in cloud and revealed itself for only a couple of minutes, just long enough to get the shots you see here. The views were just epic! The music is written and performed by a great friend, dylan lee. If you would like to see some awesome stills from the event, go to this page: www.geoffmackley.com Geoff is a TV3 cameraman, he was first <b>...</b>
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