Samoa tsunami: NZ team helping identify bodies

New Zealanders are taking on one of the grimmer tasks in the wake of Samoa's earthquake and tsunami.

A police Disaster Victim Identification team is working with the bodies of tourists killed in the disaster.

So far, the official toll of New Zealanders lost in the tragedy stands at four, with a young child also still missing and presumed dead.

Grave concerns are held for two other young New Zealand women.

TVNZ reporter Lisa Owen says many of the victims were killed by debris from buildings smashed in the first tsunami wave.

She says it turned broken glass, timber and roofing iron into missiles swirling in a whirlpool.

Lisa Owen says a New Zealand Navy team will today be working on damaged pipe work, aiming to restore clean water to some areas.

- NEWSTALK ZB