NZ offers hurricane help, Kiwis missing

New Zealand has offered hurricane assistance to the United States.

Foreign Minister Phil Goff has been in touch with the White House and the US State Department.

He said as a friend of the United States, New Zealand stands ready to help. The response from the Americans has been that there is no request for specific assistance as yet.

Meanwhile there is growing concern for the safety of at least three New Zealanders unaccounted for in New Orleans.

Aucklander Stacey Howes, along with two other New Zealanders who have been working at Camp America in Texas, were passing through New Orleans on their way to New York when Hurricane Katrina hit.

Her father Bill Howes last heard from her on Monday morning as the storm approached. He is optimistic the 21-year-old is still at her hotel but is worried about the lawlessness gripping New Orleans.

He has been trying to get in touch with Stacey again this morning without success.

Another of the missing New Zealanders, Marianne Lynch, spoke to her family immediately after the storm hit, but they have not heard from her since. Her father, Lawrence Lynch says he is very concerned.

A New Zealand-based charity has been stunned at the lack of preparedness in the US as authorities attempt to deal with the aftermath of Katrina. Oxfam New Zealand Director Barry Cotes said the United States should have been ready.

He said this was a disaster waiting to happen, but no-one seems to have been prepared to cope. Mr Cotes said those who are suffering are the poor and disadvantaged.

Conditions are also worsening at the New Orleans Convention Centre, where people are reported to be dying while they wait for help to arrive.

WPMI TV news reporter Scott Walker is in Mobile, Alabama, but his mind is on his hometown of New Orleans. He told Newstalk ZB's Paul Holmes Breakfast he cannot comprehend what is happening in the disaster-stricken city.

He said people always talked about what would happen when a big hurricane hit New Orleans, but he said hearing about it all your life and then actually seeing it come true are two totally different realities.

Walker said people who witnessed Hurricane Camille in 1969 never thought they would see anything worse than that storm.

- NEWSTAK ZB