WELLINGTON, Jan 28 (NNN-RNZ) – New Zealand Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon, said yesterday, there is a “strong case” for a government inquiry, into last week’s landslide, at a holiday park that left six people presumed dead.
Luxon had asked Associate Emergency Management Minister, Chris Penk, to advise Cabinet on the potential scope of an inquiry, amid questions over whether earlier evacuations could have saved lives, the prime minister told the first post-Cabinet press conference of the year.
The large landslide struck the holiday park at the base of Mount Maunganui, in the Bay of Plenty region, in New Zealand’s North Island last Thursday.
Two other people – a 10-year-old boy and his grandmother – died in separate slips, Thursday, in Papamoa, the Bay of Plenty, while another person remains missing, after severe weather lashed the North Island, leaving thousands without power and isolating some communities on the east coast.
The government has announced an initial 1.2 million NZ dollars (740,000 U.S. dollars) for regional recovery, through Mayoral Relief Funds.
“Establishing the facts is not only what the families of those who lost their lives deserve, it’s also important in helping us to ensure lessons are learned, to prevent similar tragedies occurring elsewhere in the future,” Luxon said, calling the disaster an absolute tragedy for New Zealand.– NNN-RNZ