*** Checkpoint FOR WED 30 SEPT 2009
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1700 to 1707 NEWS
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The death toll is rising from today's massive earthquake which triggered a series of devastating tsunamis in the South Pacific.
In Samoa close to 100 people have been killed including one New Zealander, villages in popular tourist areas in the south east have been flattened and hundreds of people have been injured. Relief work is being hampered because the roads are damaged and phonelines are out . In neighbouring American Samoa the capital Pago Pago has been hit by a number of huge waves which have swamped the harbourside business centre and closed the airport.
And in Tonga there are reports of ten deaths.
Sati Young is a Red Cross worker in the worst hit area of Samoa in a village near the tourist area Lalomanu. He's with three traumatised families who altogether have lost ten people, including an 8 month old baby and a three year old child. PREREC
The Acting Prime Minister Bill English says there is a reliable but still unconfirmed report of one New Zealander dead. PREREC
In American Samoa at least 22 people are dead and an unknown number are still missing. US President Barak Obama has declared the tsunami 'a major disaster'. The US government has already dispatched teams from FEMA - the Federal Emergency Management Agency - and is to make federal funding available to provide emmergency assistance. Congressman Eni Faleomavaega <Far-layo-.mar-vai-enga > is the delegate to the US Congress for American Samoa in Washington. CLIP Coastal villages have been wiped out and in the capital, houses and businesses have been destroyed - here's the Director of Homeland Security Mike Sala in Pago Pago PREREC
Filomena Nelson is the spokesperson for the disaster mangement office in Samoa LIVE
Tipi Autagavaia (tee-pee ow-tonga-vai-a) is our correspondent in Samoa - he joins us now. LIVE
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1720 TRAILS AND BUSINESS WITH Amy Williams
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The Agriculture Minister, David Carter, has ordered urgent inspections of all dairy farms owned by the controversial Crafar family. The Ministry of Agriculture and Foresty is still deciding whether to prosecute over animal neglect after more than a hundred starving calves had to be shot on one of their farms in Waikato.
David Carter joins us now: LIVE
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17.30 HEADLINES
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The magnitude 8-point-zero quake which shook Samoa this morning triggered a tsunami warning for New Zealand with waves of up to a metre predicted. Civil Defence authorities were put on alert around the country, particularly on the northern and eastern coasts - with people being warned to stay off beaches and out of the water.
In the Coromandel, people in low-lying coastal areas were told to move to higher ground. Shortly after 11 o'clock the national tsunami warning was downgraded to an advisory of a potential threat.
The biggest waves to hit our shores were 75 centimetres high - in the Chatham Islands. A Northland seismologist says the information put out by authorities was confusing and potentially dangerous. Chris Buckley, who lives at Tutukaka, says the warning was downgraded just as the wave action was getting started in the north. Mr Buckley says boats which had gone offshore to be safe, were starting to come back into the narrow harbour - and had to fight their way out again. CLIP Mr Buckley says water levels were rising and falling by up to a metre; strong currents were running in different directions, and there were several waves a metre high.
CLIP Chris Buckley says the tsunami effects in Tutukaka Harbour didn't die down till about one-thirty this afternoon. Joining us now is the Civil Defence Emergency Management Director John Hamilton:
LIVE
A 45-year-old truck driver has been found guilty of careless driving causing the death of a high ranking police officer who was cycling home from work. Superintendent Steve Fitzgerald died in June last year after his bike and a container truck collided in the Lower Hutt suburb of Petone. Our reporter Sally Round has been following the case and joins me now. LIVE
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17.45 TRAILS
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WAATEA
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The government is putting parenting classes at the centre of a new action plan to tackle what schools say is the growing problem of violent and disruptive students. But, the Minister of Education, Anne Tolley, told the Post Primary Teachers Association conference in Wellington today that parents could not be compelled to attend programmes. The PPTA says from what it's seen of the plan so far, it won't be enough to help teachers who are already dealing with disturbed and violent students. Our education correspondent, Gael Woods, joins us now. LIVE
More than 230 entries in a competition to design the 100-million dollar redevelopment of Auckland's Queens Wharf have been whittled down to five. The wharf was jointly puchased by the Government and the Auckland Regional Council in June, with the aim of making it 'party central' for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
Ben Brown reports: PKG
Telecommunications industry groups say plans to install a second trans-Tasman fibre-optic cable will benefit businesses and home internet users in New Zealand. The state-owned company Kordia says it's moving closer to deploying the 200 million dollar cable and aims to award a contract for its installation early next year.
Kordia says the new cable, named the Optikor, will end the monopoly held by the existing Southern Cross cable. Matthew Peddie reports. PKG