Prime Minister John Key has given a personal assurance to the Samoan government of New Zealand's commitment to emergency relief and long-term reconstruction after last week's tsunami.
When he arrived in Samoa yesterday he found what he describes as "utter devastation" on the south side of the island.
"It's something akin to a war zone," he told NZPA today."Thousands are without accommodation and that's a short-term issue we have to work on."
Mr Key went to Samoa to see for himself the damage caused by last week's tsunami, assess New Zealand's response and give a personal assurance of help.He did that in an hour-long meeting with Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele and his cabinet.
"I made it clear New Zealand would be providing both short and long-term support to aid the reconstruction and there's a number of aspects to that," he said."From an infrastructure perspective there's been considerable damage to their tourism areas, that's about a quarter of their economy, so it's going to be important to help in that area.
"There's accommodation rebuilding and there may be other structural issues, depending on how much damage the earthquake did to some of the large buildings."He could not find fault with New Zealand's emergency response.
"I think New Zealand has done a tremendous job responding, and we should really pay tribute to the men and women who have been literally working round the clock to help with the reconstruction effort," he said."What we have been trying to do is work with the Samoan disaster recovery people.
"I think it's important we don't try to take over and completely control the situation but work with the local staff so we're actually providing what is required."Mr Key said Samoa needed specialist personnel.
"For instance, a navy dive team has been sent to try to repair the water pipes, engineers are required to look at the structural soundness of buildings...it's been very specialised and I think New Zealand has responded very quickly."While the south side of the island had been devastated, the tsunami's impact had been localised, he said.
"On the rest of the island, you'd be blissfully unaware there's been a tsunami," he said."In one sense that's helping the recovery process because the airport is open, we have full access with our specialist staff and heavy equipment is still operational."
The Samoan people were being stoic but there was a lot of pain below the surface, Mr Key said. New Zealand was sending grief counsellors, who would play an important role over the next few weeks as people came to terms with the enormous loss of life.But one of the most urgent medical risks was from infectious diseases, and a request had been received for a specialist in that area. That specialist had arrived in Samoa today, he said.
Mr Key spent just a few hours in Samoa, returning early this morning after a trip that was kept short because he did not want it to be a distraction from the relief work.The Government had so far committed NZ$1 million in emergency aid to Samoa and Tonga, and many millions more were likely to be needed in the months ahead.
