Teen's death 'preventable'

The landslide that wrecked this house in Ohope in 2011 also killed teenager Hugh Biddle on a nearby property. Photo / Alan Gibson

Council asked to rethink evacuation options after expectant father killed in landslide.

A coroner has asked a council to consider new landslide evacuation procedures after an engineer's report found such measures could have prevented a teenager being buried alive two years ago.

Whakatane District Council has undertaken to explore the option after it was repeatedly raised yesterday at a coronial inquest into the death of 17-year-old Hugh Biddle at Ohope on June 18, 2011.

Mr Biddle, an expectant father, was buried under 4m of mud and silt when the steep escarpment above the West End Rd house he shared with his foster father Rob Shaw gave way following heavy rain.

Mr Shaw, who has since died, tried in vain to smash through a door to reach him after hearing his foster son desperately call, "Help me Koro, help me".

His whanau has hit out at the council for not ordering evacuations after that weekend's unusually heavy downpour heightened the danger of landslides above the cliff-side community.

Their calls were echoed yesterday in a report read to the inquest by retired scientist Dick Beetham, who undertook an investigation of the landslide.

"If an evacuation order had been given to vulnerable properties when the June 18, 2011, storm was forecast earlier in the day, the tragic accident at 55 West End Rd could have been avoided," he said.

John Sim, whose granddaughter Cherize Sim gave birth to Mr Biddle's daughter Zekaiya a few months after, said he had noticed the potential danger hours before, when Whakatane was pummelled by the worst storm he had ever seen.

He recalled mentioning to his wife how he hoped residents living under the cliff were being evacuated - and discussing the same matter with Mr Shaw soon after the tragedy.

"It was something I spoke to Rob about afterwards, and as a shattered man, he still agreed that something could have been done... and they certainly would have got out of the home and to safety," he said.

"That's the thing I believe wasn't done and maybe should have been done. A decision could have been made, rather than nothing happening at all."

Coroner Dr Wallace Bain asked the council's general manager of strategy and planning, David Bewley, to respond to Mr Beetham's report and address the calls for evacuation.

Mr Bewley acknowledged it as "one conclusion that needs further discussion, in terms of the appropriateness of what the warning signals would be to evacuate".

"And I think there are some issues around the legality of the council being able to enforce the evacuations - I suspect it's more [of finding] an agreement with the communities of interest."

But he said the council were happy to work toward a solution.

Presently, evacuations could only be ordered after Civil Defence emergencies were declared. The council was already working to identify landslide risk areas and putting in place measures to reduce threats.

Mr Beetham's investigation had further found the landslide was caused by large pohutukawa that were unable to hang on to saturated upper debris in the escarpment.

Trimming the trees, which were difficult to access, might only delay landslides from happening.

He concluded that landslides from the cliffs presented an "unacceptable risk" to the houses directly below, where properties should not be given building consent.