New Zealand‘s Mount Taranaki is ‘almost certain’ to erupt in coming years and cause mass devastation to its nearby townships, experts have warned.   The chances of the volcano, on the west coast of the North Island, erupting within the next 50 years and ‘producing volcanic hazards’ is extremely likely, authorities said. ‘An eruption of Mount Taranaki is not a matter of ‘if’, it is a matter of ‘when’,’ a report on the

region’s latest five-year Civil Defence plan stated. ‘An eruption of Mount Taranaki could produce volcanic hazards such as tephra falls, pyroclastic density currents, lava flows, lahars, flooding, debris avalanches, sector collapses, lightning and volcanic gases.’  More than 450,000 people visit the Egmont National Park each year to hike its trails to the mountain’s 2500 metre summit. READ MORE