White Island one year later: 'I still ask myself, why did Whakaari take life?'

Pouroto Ngaropo Tohunga and leader of Ngati Awa, the Maori iwi from the area where the Whakaari volcano erupted, describes how unresolved grief still affects the community a year later.

Pouroto Ngaropo Source: SBS News/Abbie O'Brien

I was on Whakaari the week before it exploded, I felt like something was not normal and I could already feel her crying with pain.

Then it happened, Whakaari erupted, killing people and injured many others. Twenty-one lives gone. Just like that! It was traumatic. It was a shock.

When I first heard about the explosion I cried. Not because of the eruption, because that is normal, but for the loss of life. I couldn’t believe it.

Whakatane and the Bay of Plenty felt like death. The incident had a significant impact on the psychology of the community. It was like our heart was ripped out of us all.

It created a situation of pain and agony. The local iwi stopped using the waterways for hunting, surfing, and swimming out of respect for the lives lost and uphold the sacredness of death.

The explosion had a huge impact on the future of those businesses that depended on it for their income. Whakaari is the doorway into tourism in the Bay of Plenty. There was a relief fund setup by the council, giving relief to those people.

Pouroto Ngaropo Tohunga and Leader of Ngati Awa at Whakaari. Source: Supplied

The council said they wanted to continue tourism but I knew it wouldn’t happen. The loss was too great. Local tourism operators are now planning to focus tourism on smaller islands.

Whakaari is a living grave. There are two people there who haven’t been found. We are still going through a healing process.

There is uncertainty over the fact we haven’t found those two people. It has had a huge impact on our community, it has had a huge impact on me. It’s sad when you’re mourning but you can’t physically see them and see them put to rest in a dignified way.

I feel like the island is calling out to us, to pray on the island to clear away the spirits. It cannot be left unspoken and unaddressed. That’s something I think will happen in the near future. The heaviness of the loss of life, and those who remain on the island, is something that I feel is spiritually pushing down on our community.

There was also going to be a risk taking people to Whakaari, as humans we always think we have control but we don’t, we are subservient to Whakaari because she can blow at any time. If we are there, and it happens, we can’t do anything about it.

White Island (Whakaari) volcano erupts in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, 09 December 2019. Source: AAP

The loss of power is a reminder of the connection between the land and the waterways. That energy is ancient. It is all linked to Mother Earth.

For the Ngati Awa, Whakaari is Papatuanuku (Mother Earth's) grandchild.

Was Whakaari feeling the pain of Papatuanuku? Was it a message to us, to address our continual abuse of the Earth? I believe it was a reminder of how we need to look after the environment and look after one another.

But I still ask myself, why did Whakaari take life? What does this mean to us one year after Whakaari expressed her anger? She has taken two special people to lie with her forever on Whakaari and around, in the ocean.

We remember those that died, they will never be forgotten, we will remember them and their families.

May you all rest in peace and the love of the Creator and our ancestors, be with you always e moe, e moe, takoto. They will never be forgotten.