Tsunami stories: Hubbard dips into personal funds

Auckland City Mayor Dick Hubbard yesterday pledged $7000 from his mayoral discretionary fund and made a personal donation of $1000 for aid work.

Mr Hubbard said he planned to talk with chief executive Bryan Taylor about other ways the council could help, such as forming close ties with an affected area or city to provide ongoing assistance.

Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey has given $2000 from his mayoral discretionary fund and matched it with a personal donation.

Betting cash to help

State government profits from betting by West Australian punters on last night's tsunami appeal charity cricket match are going to the relief fund.

Racing and Wagering WA expects this will boost by A$2 million ($2.18 million) the amount the state is giving.

WA Sport Minister Bob Kucera said: "Cricket is an international language we have in common with many people in the areas affected by this tragedy."

Medical aid for island

An Auckland specialist in travel and expedition medicine has set off for the Indonesian island of Nias.

Marc Shaw, who travelled the world with Sir Peter Blake, has been joined by Taranaki emergency medicine expert Tom Mulholland, who survived a tsunami in Java in 1994.

The pair intend to establish a clinic on Nias. 

Security for NZ team

New Zealand's military medical team is working under tight security in Banda Aceh as it tries to keep at least parts of the public hospital functioning.

The Indonesian town is on edge after a Government soldier was reported shot.

New Zealand's team of 30 has been told not to leave the hospital compound at night, and only to leave under escort during the day.

The New Zealanders are trying to clean up the mess and get the hospital up and running.

Little time to escape

The Pacific region's tsunami warning system has lulled hundreds of thousands of people into a false sense of security, says a Fiji-based scientist.

People within 1000km of the epicentre of an earthquake generating tsunami swells would have little time to escape waves moving at up to 1000km/h, said Russell Howarth, deputy director of the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission. No national tsunami early warning systems operated in the small island states, many of which were low-lying coral atolls, he said.

Monitoring plan touted

Japan plans to create an independent earthquake and tsunami monitoring network that will stretch from East Asia to the Indian Ocean.

Tokyo will unveil the plan at a United Nations global conference on disaster prevention in Kobe next week, says the Nihon Keizai Shimbun.

The network will be compatible with an existing pan-Pacific tsunami warning system in which Japan, the United States, China and 23 other nations participate.

- STAFF REPORTER, AGENCIES