Scoop Audio: Helicopters deployed, PM to Samoa

Thursday, 1 October 2009, 5:47 pm
Article: Scoop Audio

By Spike Mountjoy

Click for big version
Acting Prime Minister Bill English

See below for audio (in two parts) of this afternoons Pacific tsunami press conference update

• Scoop Audio: The New Zealand Government is contributing one million dollars to the Samoan and Tongan relief efforts, a move Acting Prime Minister Bill English describes as the beginning of an ongoing financial commitment to help the tsunami ravaged region.

  A New Zealand Iroquois helicopter will be transported to Samoa later today by an Australian Hercules, with another NZ Iroquois ready to be deployed tomorrow.

  The helicopters will be used to carry out a detailed survey of the damage, and could be used to get relief to areas not accessible by road.

  The airport on the Tongan island Niuatoputapu is still unusable, and the government there is expected to ask New Zealand for help later today.

  Bill English says preliminary estimates by engineers in Samoa suggest repairing the roads on the island nation could cost as much as $90 million.

  Foreign Minister Murray McCully will head to Samoa on Friday, and Prime Minister John Key will arrive in Apia on Saturday.

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