KEY POINTS:
Officials have made contact with most of 27 New Zealanders reported as being in the areas affected by a devastating earthquake in China.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Mfat) said some of the individuals or family groups were registered with safetravel.govt.nz as being in the Sichuan and Chongqing provinces affected by the 7.8 quake, and others were known to be there.
The death toll from yesterday's quake was tonight heading towards 10,000.
The New Zealand Embassy in Beijing and Mfat had made contact with 18 New Zealand nationals.
All had confirmed they were safe and not all of them were still in the affected areas.
Mfat spokeswoman Lucy Taylor said while most were registered on the government website, others had come to the attention of authorities through people making inquiries about them.
Ms Taylor said Chinese authorities had so far not identified any foreign nationals among the dead.
"The embassy will continue to try to contact New Zealanders by telephone, but communications are still difficult," she said.
New Zealanders concerned about the welfare of family members known to be in the quake region could contact Mfat's consular office.
Meanwhile, Acting Prime Minister Michael Cullen said today there had been no requests for assistance from the Chinese Government.
Dr Cullen said as opposed to cyclone-devastated Myanmar, China has a substantial government machine capable of carrying out a great deal of the relief work.
New Zealand would nevertheless be standing by ready to assist if needed.
- NZPA
