Source: Radio New Zealand
People watch on as work at the slip site is halted. RNZ / Kim Baker Wilson
Rescue efforts at Mount Maunganui following a deadly slip have resumed after being paused for a second time.
Work resumed at 2pm, several hours after it was suspended, following confirmation that the area was safe to re-enter.
“Following consultation with a number of experts on the ground, the recovery teams have been given the green light to continue with the recovery,” Detective Inspector Lew Warner said.
“While the suspension of work is frustrating for everybody involved, the correct measures must be taken to ensure the safety of everybody at the scene.”
Detective Inspector Warner reiterated the need to keep the recovery team safe.
“These people have been working tirelessly in a range of testing conditions across the last week, to bring families their loved ones back.”
Police said work was temporarily suspended just after 10.30am on Thursday after technology that had been installed to monitor land movement was triggered.
It comes a week after the slip occurred, burying six people.
Detective Inspector Lew Warner said earlier on Thursday that the safety of all staff working at the scene is front of mind.
“The systems installed are designed to trigger any potential land movements, and excess water within the scene,” Warner said.
“Geotechnical experts will now conduct a thorough examination of the area before clearance to return to work is given.
“All staff working at the scene have been withdrawn, pending further assessments.”
Staff working at the scene have been stopped. RNZ / Kim Baker Wilson
Warner said police would give an update when it was able to.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins got to the disaster site just as work was being halted.
Struggling for words at one point, he described a moving experience meeting workers and victims’ families.
“It’s incredibly hard for them and to the families who have been affected, some of whom I had the opportunity to speak to briefly.
“There just aren’t really any words that you can share that really express the sense of loss that is here and the commitment of the people who are working here now to do everything that they can to support those families and to bring them some comfort.”
Hipkins said everyone was doing everything they could to support those affected and working at the site, but also to protect their safety.
“It’s a very, very difficult time for the families,” Hipkins said.
“I imagine at this point, seven days on, they just need some space and so that’s what we’ve tried to do here.
“I think being here is important to, I guess, express the country’s support, but also recognising that they deserve their space.”
Over the weekend, work was halted for about 24 hours due to a potential slip occurring.
At the time, police said the victim’s families were understandably frustrated by the delay in the recovery work but they understood why it needed to happen.
Slip recovery a ‘dangerous environment’, expert says
Dr Chris Massey, an engineering geologist with Earth Sciences, told Midday Report, one of the biggest issues with digging into an area following a landslide was the potential for the land to be destabilised further.
Massey said while he was not involved with the recovery efforts at Mt Maunganui, generally with landslides there was a possibility that digging into the debris could cause a secondary slip that could kill or hurt people nearby.
“A landslide occurs when soil or rock moves from one location to another… so the key really is managing the risk to people in that lower area who are trying to excavate the debris.
“It’s a really dangerous environment.”
Monitoring a landslide was difficult, Massey said, due to their relatively small size when compared to something like a volcano.
“You need experts to understand where they are. We use different techniques – starting from space, we can monitor the movement of the ground using radar technology, we can then get closer to the ground by monitoring using UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle), and aerial photography.”
On the ground sensors could be installed on the surface of the area, Massey said, which monitored movement or even instal sensors in the landslide to monitor when there was moving in the ground.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand