Speaking from the Marine Parade cordon, Drysdale said new specialist equipment had reduced the risk to workers, but the scale of the slips and the instability of the ground meant progress would remain cautious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re hoping the weather holds, but even in the best conditions this will take days into weeks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Drysdale acknowledged the Government\u2019s latest announcements, including an additional $1.2 million for mayoral relief funds<\/strong> and confirmation of an independent inquiry<\/strong> into the events leading up to the fatal landslide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019ll continue working closely with the Government to make sure our processes don\u2019t overlap unnecessarily,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A community gathering<\/strong> is being organised for Thursday evening at Mount Maunganui to mark one week since the tragedy. Emergency service workers involved in the response will be invited, and parts of the city are expected to reopen as cordons gradually shift back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur community is grieving. This gathering is a chance to honour those we\u2019ve lost and acknowledge the incredible work of our responders,\u201d Drysdale said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He urged the public to respect police operations still underway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPlease allow police the space they need to return loved ones to their families. Many are still in deep grief.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Businesses inside the cordon continue to face significant financial strain, with some reporting losses of thousands of dollars per day. The council is assessing ways to support affected operators and help them reopen as soon as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Drysdale also confirmed that many tracks on the maunga have suffered extensive damage from multiple slips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s a treasured place for our community, but until police complete their work, we can\u2019t begin assessing what repairs will be required.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prime Minister Christopher Luxon<\/strong> reiterated today that the Government\u2019s independent inquiry will be wide\u2011ranging and focused on establishing clear facts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He also addressed public commentary surrounding the tragedy, including racially charged remarks circulating online and in some community discussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Luxon said such comments were \u201cnot helpful, not accurate, and not acceptable,\u201d<\/strong> urging New Zealanders to avoid division at a time when families and communities are hurting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is a moment for compassion and unity, not blame or racial tension,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople are grieving. Let\u2019s support them and let the investigation do its job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Derek Johnstone for cvnznews.com Recovery efforts at Mount Maunganui continue to move slowly but steadily, with Tauranga Mayor Mah\u00e9 Drysdale confirming that the operation remains complex and could still take weeks to complete. Speaking from the Marine Parade cordon, Drysdale said new specialist equipment had reduced the risk to workers, but the scale of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9067,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[41],"tags":[267,343,268,342],"coauthors":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9064","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-landslide","9":"tag-mahe-drysdale","10":"tag-mount-maunganui","11":"tag-tauraunga"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/mahe_drysdale_mayor_rnz.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9064"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9070,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9064\/revisions\/9070"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9064"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=9064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/luxon-vigil-1.jpg\")
\n\n\n\n