KEY POINTS:
The Minister of Conservation Chris Carter made this announcement after the lahar.
I am delighted with the way things have gone today on Mt Ruapehu.
The lahar travelled down the path as predicted, and the early warning response system that this government provided worked exactly as planned," said Mr Carter.
The bund built to divert the path of the water and mud from the crater lake on Mount Ruapehu withstood the lahar, and the lahar continued down the Whangaehu Valley away from the Tongariro catchment. The lahar also continued safely down the valley and underneath the Tangiwai Bridge.
I am pleased that we now have a robust system in place to manage this kind of natural event, and to do so with a great degree of advance warning, with the least amount of damage to people and property is the ideal situation.
The management system for the Mount Ruapehu lahar is the international best practice for this type of natural event.
The response plan triggered today involved officials from the Department of Conservation, Civil Defence, Police, Horizons Manawatu and the Ruapehu District Council.
