400 NZers still out of contact

More than 200 New Zealanders reported missing in Southeast Asia when the tsunamis hit have been found, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade says another 400 have yet to be accounted for.

Red Cross volunteers last night took over the phones from ministry staff as the influx of calls from worried relatives continued.

Between 10 and 20 volunteers will staff the phones, freeing up ministry employees to trace the missing people.

It is not the first time the ministry has called on the Red Cross to help, and the charity has a permanent call centre for such emergencies.

Criticism was yesterday levelled at the ministry by some of those looking for relatives and friends.

Keith Thorpe said he struggled to contact it and was "appalled" he could not get through easily. He has since discovered his son is safe and unharmed.

Victoria Dyke has had no contact with her father Eric, who arrived in Phuket on Christmas Day and told Newstalk ZB she feared not enough was being done for New Zealanders caught up in the tragedy.

She wanted to see a "more organised effort by New Zealand officials so families can get peace of mind".

But ministry spokesman James Kember said the ministry was doing its best to answer every call and follow up every query. It had received more than 800 calls in 24 hours.

During the past two days "dozens" of staff had interrupted their holiday breaks to work 10 and 12-hour shifts, answering phones and making enquiries. "We are very conscious that at various times people are having trouble getting through but on the other hand there are times when the calls go quiet, the pressure dies down," he said.

"We're dealing with every call as quickly as possible. People should just keep calling, absolutely."

He said the ministry particularly wanted to hear back from people who had reported friends or relatives missing but had since independently discovered those people to be safe.

"At the moment we have 20 people in here, so we expect to sustain that but now focus on processing the data collected by Red Cross staff answering the calls," Mr Kember said.

"We've got people working in shifts in embassies like Bangkok and the other embassies as well, in the High Commission in New Delhi, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur - although most of the number affected for us are in Thailand."

Mr Kember said ministry staff and the police liaison officer from Bangkok were in Phuket and working their way around the centres.

They have said the Phuket town centre itself showed little evidence of destruction but sewerage systems in resort areas had been destroyed.

"We have no way of knowing how many New Zealanders may be in the areas affected by the tsunamis," Mr Kember said.

* New Zealand Red Cross hotline - 0800 733 276.