Why Were Tourists Allowed to Visit an Active New Zealand Volcano?

[stopdiggin]

9. you beat me to it

and I'd go further to say that we can't be certain that there was anything "incredibly careless" about allowing tourists near the volcano (any more than allowing tourists near the rim of the Grand Canyon .. or on walkways over acid pools in Yellowstone .. or in any one of the other "active volcano" you link to). If somebody (government regulators) had actually assigned eminent risk to this location or feature that would be one thing. But, as you point out, "active volcanic activity" is as common as dirt .. and true eruptions are notoriously hard to predict. Where is the "risk factor" in allowing access to something that might not actually erupt in the next 100-500 years?

we'll all wait for the actual reports to come in .. but right now this looks like a lot of "Oh, dear" .. and attendant finger pointing.