MELBOURNE: Landslides hit a campground and a house in New Zealand and emergency crews were trying to rescue people buried in rubble, officials said Thursday.
Emergency services were called to the slide at the base of Mount Maunganui on New Zealand’s North Island after 9:30 a.m. The rubble hit Beachside Holiday Park in a town named after the extinct volcano. Images showed vehicles, travel trailers and a bathroom block crushed by debris.
Police Superintendent Tim Anderson said the number of people missing was in the “single figures” but didn’t say further how many were affected.
Another landslide hit a house in the nearby Welcome Bay community at 4:50 a.m, a police statement said. Two people escaped the house but two others were missing, Anderson said. A rescue operation was underway there.
Further north near Warkworth, a man remained missing after floodwaters swept him from a road Wednesday morning as heavy rain lashed large swathes of the North Island, a police statement said.
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon urged residents in affected areas to heed local authorities’ safety advice during the extreme conditions.
“Extreme weather continues to cause dangerous conditions across the North Island. Right now, the government is doing everything we can to support those impacted,” Luxon posted on social media.
At Mount Maunganui, no survivor had been recovered, Fire and Emergency NZ commander William Pike said.
“Members of the public ... tried to get into the rubble and did hear some voices,” Pike told reporters. “Our initial fire crew arrived and … were able to hear the same. Shortly after our initial crew arrived, we withdrew everyone from the site due to possible movement and slip.”
No sign of life had been detected since, Pike said.
Emergency Management Minister Mark Mitchell said emergency crews were continuing a rescue operation at Mount Maunganui.
Mayor Mahe Drysdale said those unaccounted earlier had included people who had left the campground without notifying authorities. The campground was closed after the disaster.
Australian tourist Sonny Worrall said he was lazing in a hot pool within the campground when he heard then saw the landslide.
“I looked behind me and there’s a huge landslide coming down. And I’m still shaking from it now,” Worrall told New Zealand’s 1News news service. “I turned around and I had to jump out from my seat as fast as I could and just run.”
He looked back to see the rubble carrying a travel trailer behind him.
“It was like the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced in my life,” Worrall said.
Rescue efforts underway after landslides hit New Zealand campground and house
https://arab.news/ysktd
Rescue efforts underway after landslides hit New Zealand campground and house
- Emergency services were called to the slide at the base of Mount Maunganui on New Zealand’s North Island after 9:30 a.m.
- Another landslide hit a house in the nearby Welcome Bay community at 4:50 a.m, a police statement said
Sweden plans to tighten rules for gaining citizenship
- The country has for years struggled to integrate migrants, with many not learning the language and living in disadvantaged areas with higher crime and jobless rates
STOCKHOLM: Sweden said Monday it planned to tighten rules to acquire citizenship, introducing “honest living” and financial requirements, a language and general knowledge test and raising the residency requirement from five to eight years.
If approved by parliament, the new rules would enter into force on June 6, Sweden’s national holiday, and would apply even to applications already being processed.
Migration Minister Johan Forssell, whose right-wing minority government holds a majority with the backing of the far-right Sweden Democrats, told reporters it was currently too easy to acquire Swedish citizenship.
“Citizenship needs to mean more than it does today,” he said.
“Pride is something you feel when you’ve worked hard at something. But working hard is not something that has characterised citizenship.
“It has been possible to become a citizen after five years without knowing a single word of Swedish, without knowing anything about our Swedish society, without having any own income.”
Referring to a case that recently made headlines, he said: “You can even become one while you’re sitting in custody accused of murder.
“This obviously sends completely wrong signals, both to those who do right by themselves and those who are already citizens.”
Following a large influx of migrants to Sweden during the 2015 migrant crisis, successive left- and right-wing governments have tightened asylum and migration rules.
The country has for years struggled to integrate migrants, with many not learning the language and living in disadvantaged areas with higher crime and jobless rates.
Under the new rules, those who have criminal records — in their home country or in Sweden — and who have served their sentence would have to wait up to 17 years before being allowed to apply for citizenship, up from the current 10 years.
In addition, those deemed to not adhere to “honest living” requirements would not be granted citizenship.
That could include racking up mountains of debt, being served restraining orders or even having a drug addiction.
Applicants would also have to have a monthly pre-tax income of 20,000 kronor ($2,225), excluding pensioners and students.
The citizenship tests would be similar to those used in neighboring Denmark and the United States, the government said, with the first tests due to be held in August.
