December 13, 2013 Eruption of Okataina
Okataina in New Zealand erupted on December 13, 2013. The eruption killed 1 person.
Where it erupted
Okataina, New Zealand, with its other significant eruptions.
The eruption
- Date
- December 13, 2013
- Volcano
- Okataina, lava dome
- Country
- New Zealand
- Killed by
- Gas (from eruptive craters, fumaroles and solfataras)
- Location
- 38.157° S, 176.507° E
The toll
- Deaths
- 1
Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
Rotorua's potentially lethal hydrogen sulphide gas could have contributed to the death of an Australian pediatrician, a coroner has found. While Coroner Wallace Bain said it was impossible to rule on a clear cause of Dr Kesho Dutt Sharma's death, but he couldn't rule out hydrogen sulphide being a "contributing factor to the death". He could have fainted because of the heat of the pool he was in, and/or arrhythmia from an enlarged heart, Bain said. A post-mortem found traces of thiosulphate in Sharma's blood and urine, something forensic toxicologist Helen Poulsen said was an indicator of hydrogen sulphide poison. No eruption. (reference #11903)
Other significant eruptions of Okataina
More
Every eruption in 2013The 2000sOkatainaEarthquakes near OkatainaThis day in weather history
Sources
Volcanoes and significant eruptions from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. Volcano numbers are the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program’s. NCEI event 6845.