Clark warns of NZ's tsunami danger

Prime Minister Helen Clark gave New Zealand its own tsunami warning yesterday as she increased the amount of aid going to stricken Asia.

She said New Zealand's tsunami warning coverage was inadequate and needed upgrading.

Back from a ski holiday in Norway, Helen Clark announced a doubling in aid to $10 million.

Cash contributions were just the "tip of the iceberg" in the biggest relief operation since World War II, she said.

She leaves today for an Asean summit of world leaders in Jakarta tomorrow to discuss ways to co-ordinate the international relief effort.

She said New Zealand's tsunami warning system needed work.

"Obviously the tsunami's generated a lot of thinking around Wellington about this," she told the Herald.

"We have been part of the Pacific warning system for tsunamis for 40 years ... it's mainly focused on the north-east and the west coast of South America.

"The system is not focused on the south-west area of New Zealand going into the Southern Ocean."

She had been advised that New Zealand could be better covered from the south if the proposed Indian Ocean tsunami warning system - being discussed by Asian countries after last week's catastrophe - was linked to the Pacific system.

An earthquake measuring 8.1 on the Richter scale occurred near Macquarie Island in the south Tasman Sea days before the Boxing Day force 9 earthquake off Indonesia that sparked the tsunamis.

"In that area, undoubtedly we and Australia could have better systems," she said.

Tsunami readiness will be a key subject of the Jakarta meeting which Helen Clark and Foreign Minister Phill Goff will attend.

Plans will be made to link Asia into an early-warning system in the hope of preventing disasters of the scale of the Boxing Day deaths which have claimed at least 150,000 lives.

The disaster has touched all corners of the world. People from about 40 nations were lost in the monster waves which smashed into 13 countries around the Indian Ocean.

Two New Zealanders are among those declared dead.

A third person with dual New Zealand-Canadian citizenship, June Kander, 74, has also been confirmed dead in Sri Lanka.

And serious fears are held for a West Auckland man still missing in Sri Lanka.

Titus de Silva, who received the Queen's Service Medal two years ago, is one of four people registered as missing by the New Zealand Consulate in Colombo.

Aid distribution is also on the agenda for the Jakarta summit as donations - so far US$2 billion ($2.8 billion) - continue to come in.

Leaders including Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan will attend. American Secretary of State Colin Powell and Jeb Bush, US President George W. Bush's brother, who has experience cleaning up Florida after hurricanes, are also going to the region to assess rebuilding needs.

Mr Goff will first visit Phuket in Thailand to meet New Zealand relief workers and see the damage.

Helen Clark said she expected New Zealand would find out at the summit what further aid should be forthcoming.

Indonesia has been worst hit with nearly 400,000 refugees and a death toll of 94,000, which is expected to grow as relief agencies reach remote regions of Aceh province.

The aid programme in Aceh was hindered yesterday when a Boeing 737 plane carrying relief supplies hit a buffalo and crashed, closing the area's only airport for fixed-wing aircraft.

The airport was reopened late last night (NZ time).

The accident delayed a flight by a New Zealand Air Force Hercules.

Te Tai Tokerau MP Dover Samuels said the tsunami served as a lesson for New Zealand and the Government needed to consider better warning measures.

Our extra cash

NZ Government tsunami aid boost:

$5 million for dollar-for-dollar match with public donations.

$3 million to programmes co-ordinated by the UN.

$2 million for other New Zealand aid, such as helicopter support.

This money is in addition to support from agencies such as the Defence Force, which is being paid for from existing budgets.