New Zealand scientists invent new alert system to timely warn of volcanoes

New Zealand scientists have invented a new volcano alert system that they say could have provided warning ahead of last year's White Island disaster.

Wellington: Twenty-one people died when the country's most active volcano, also called Whakaari, suddenly erupted last December with tourists on it, the BBC reported.

New Zealand scientists invent new alert system to timely warn of volcanoes

One of the scientists involved in the project, Shane Cronin from the University of Auckland, told the BBC that the current system had been "too slow to provide warnings for people (on) the island."

"The way we warn for volcanoes was good enough 10 years ago but it's not actually moving with the times."

Despite some seismic activity in the weeks before the White Island explosion the sudden and dramatic nature of the eruption took everyone, including authorities, by surprise.

(Inputs from IANS)