Gnawing fears in the silence as families wait - and hope

John Croft of Christchurch has heard nothing from his daughter, Belinda, or her husband, Andrew. Picture / Simon Baker

Throughout New Zealand, hundreds of families are waiting for the phone to ring.

It is a heartbreaking time.

"It's unbearable," said John Croft, who is waiting for news of his daughter and son-in-law, Belinda and Andrew Welch. "All you can do is sit and wait and hope."

The couple, from Takapuna on the North Shore, left three months ago and were at the southern Thailand beach resort of Khao Lak when the tsunami struck.

Mr Croft, of Christchurch, spoke to his daughter on Christmas Eve, but has since heard nothing.

Mrs Welch, 26, and her husband, 41, were planning to travel round Asia and spend a year helping an orphanage.

Mr Croft said he was pinning his hopes on a friend's son who was searching for the couple in Phuket.

Foreign Minister Phil Goff said yesterday that there had been up to 400 new cases registered with the call centre, bringing the number of New Zealanders now unaccounted for to about 1000.

Red Cross and Ministry of Foreign Affairs hotlines have been deluged by calls from people searching for loved ones, and many people have also begun posting notices on an online Herald message board.

Other online search facilities have also sprung up where people can ask for information about those missing, or post messages saying they are okay.

Steve Wallace, from South Otago, has used one of the websites to ask for help finding his sister, Vivienne.

The 52-year-old, from Auckland, was holidaying on her way to a teaching job in Bangladesh.

Mr Wallace has not heard from his sister since December 15 but knew she was planning to head to the beaches in India.

Good news and tales of fortunate escapes are also filtering through.

Teacher Susie Fitzpatrick was in her third-floor hotel room in the Colombo resort of Hikka Duwa when waves crashed into the building.

Her mother Rosemary, speaking from Motueka, told the Herald that her daughter had looked out of the balcony in horror as people in the swimming pool and floors below her were swept away.

"We had four hours of waiting by the phone after we heard of the tsunamis."

Mrs Fitzpatrick said Susie, 34, was now sleeping in a conference centre and waiting until she could get home.

Another couple, Tony McKee and his new bride, Nikki, were honeymooning on Phi Phi Island. Mr McKee's mother, Brenda, of Mt Maunganui, said she watched the news "panic-stricken" and immediately called the couple on their cellphone.

"They were walking up a mountain and did not know what was going on. They were so lucky," she said.

In Timaru, Janyce White does not know if her daughter is dead or alive.

Marion White, 38, was holidaying in India's Andaman Islands.

"As time goes on it doesn't look good," her mother said yesterday.

The last communication Mrs White has had from her youngest child was an email on December 23 saying she was heading to the remote Havelock Island.

Mrs White said it was now a waiting game: "I just want to hear something. We're trying to remain hopeful ... but expecting the worse."

Sitting in the lounge of her Timaru home with her partner, Ivan Muir, Mrs White talked about her daughter's passion for travelling.

She worked in a Nepalese orphanage for three months before heading to India.

Mrs White has been in contact with the Red Cross and the ministry.

- Additional reporting NZPA