One minute to honour the dead

Prime Minister Helen Clark led the mourning yesterday as the nation remembered victims of the Asian tsunami - but many people seemed oblivious to the tribute.
At 1.59pm - exactly three weeks after the waves tore apart the Indian Ocean nations - a 60-second silence fell in homes, sports arenas, churches, shops and even beaches.

Radio stations and television channels cut broadcasts as part of New Zealand's official honour to the more than 160,000 people who died in the tragedy.

The focal point was a service at Auckland's Holy Trinity Cathedral, attended by 500 people, including Helen Clark, Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff and National Party leader Don Brash.

Children from the worst-affected countries - Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and Malaysia - lit candles to honour those who died.

As well as the Prime Minister, speakers included representatives of Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism and Islam.

"This catastrophe has seen human beings reach out to support each other on an unprecedented scale," Helen Clark said.

"The common humanity of people has shone through at this time of great adversity for so many."

At Eden Park, the 200-strong crowd fell silent during a paused Auckland versus Central Districts State Championship cricket match and players lined up on the ground.

It was a scene played out at venues throughout the country.

Hundreds of people turned up to Christchurch's Cathedral Square for a multi-denominational service.

The cathedral bells marked the minute before 1.59pm and community leaders laid a wreath to honour both victims and survivors.

But not everyone took time to observe the minute's silence. In central Wellington only the flags flying at half-mast outside Parliament indicated it was a national day of mourning. On Lambton Quay, shoppers went about their tasks, shops played music and traffic kept moving.

At Westfield St Lukes shopping mall in Auckland, most shoppers also disregarded the memorial.

Glendowie woman Jennifer Wills was one of just a few people who stopped in the centre court to mark the moment.

"It's such a loss of life on such a huge scale that encompassed people from every walk of life. It's the least anybody could do," said the mother of two.

Westfield management had asked shop owners to turn off their music and stop serving at 1.59pm. Many did, but others said they didn't hear the announcement.

On the beach at Mission Bay only a handful of the thousands basking in the sun observed the minute's silence.

Among them were 9-year-old Tom Scott and sister Hannah, 14, from Melbourne. Grandparents Maureen and Dick Scott, from Wellington, brought the children to the beach to remember how it "could so easily have been us".

"The people in Sri Lanka and the other places were on the beach just like this and would have got a big fright when the waves came," Tom said. "I wanted to be in the right place to think about what happened."

New Zealanders Leone Cosens, 51, and Craig Baxter, 37, are confirmed dead, and June Kander, 74, a New Zealand-born Canadian, was also killed in the tsunami.

Four New Zealanders presumed dead are understood to include Aucklanders Belinda Welch, 26, and Andrew Welch, 42, and Christchurch man Stephen Bond, 46, who was also on holiday near Khao Lak with his Thai wife, Janjira, and their three children. The fourth person has not been named.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said a further 300 New Zealanders may have been in the region, but there was "no particular concern" for most of them.

* The Government will discuss an increased aid package for tsunami-devastated countries during the first Cabinet meeting of the year tomorrow. The Government has said it will give $10 million in disaster relief aid, but is expected to increase this amount.

National leader Don Brash has criticised the Government, saying its contribution is inadequate compared with the A$1 billion ($1.1 billion) Australia is providing.

There has been media speculation that the Government's new figure could be as high as $20 million a year for up to five years. It is understood the final amount will make it New Zealand's largest foreign aid package.