A Workplace Health and Safety investigation into the Whakaari White Island eruption which has killed 16 and left 26 others in hospital could take a year to complete.
On Monday afternoon, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said questions needed to be asked and questions needed to be answered.
She said all businesses had a primary duty of care and the investigation would need to look at the role of the tour company and the cruise company among others.
It comes as hundreds of people observed one minute of silence in Whakatāne at 2:11pm on Monday to mark exactly one week since the Whakaari White Island disaster.
Fourteen people remain in hospitals around New Zealand, 10 of them are in a critical condition. Thirteen patients have been transported to Australia for treatment although one has since died. Sixteen people in total were killed. Two remain missing.
As RNZ's Andrew McCrae reports, locals gathered at Te Manuka Tutahi Marae near the waterfront at 2.11pm with the volcanic island off in the distance to pay tribute to those injured and lost.
