WELLINGTON, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said Monday 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 on 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. ■