Eruptions predicted

Press, 15 July 1982, Page 15

Eruptions predicted

Volcanoes in the central North Island could erupt “within our lifetime." according to the first documentary produced by the "Science Express” team. The documentary, to be screened on One tonight at 6 o'clock, was researched, written and presented by Allanah James. A five-mem-ber film team spent 10 days travelling across the heart of the North Island between Whakatane and Mount. Egmont. While the team was film-

ing in such. isolated and mountainous terrain, the weather was of little help. Swept over a bank on a mountainside by a 110 km/h wind gust, a cameraman and his $25,000 camera tumbled headlong down an icy slope. Both, fortunately, survived this ordeal: Grimly the team of the cameraman, Graham Lyon, a sound recordist, Mike Fitzgerald, and a production assistant, Judi Garlick-Grice, carried out their task under the mgst inhospitable conditions.

Revealing for the first time the threat of volcanic action, scientists from the D.S.I.R. and Victoria University have predicted when and how each of the volcanoes will next erupt. Starting with an examination of White Island near the Bay of. Plenty coast the programme follows an investigation into Tarawera, Ngarahoe, Tongariro, Ruapehu and Egmont. The resulting story, says' TVNZ, is a very sobering forecast for the future.