2nd LD Writethru: Airlift to evacuate tourists from New Zealand quake zone

The New Zealand military on Tuesday accepted outside offers of help in its relief operations in the wake of Monday's deadly earthquake in the South Island.

The priority was to deliver emergency supplies and evacuate some of the 1,000 tourists and residents from a New Zealand township that was cut off in the 7.5-magnitude quake, said Defence Minister and Acting Civil Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee.

Emergency services were also still assessing the scale of the damage, Brownlee said in a statement.

"The district is completely isolated after the magnitude 7.5 earthquake and subsequent landslides," Brownlee said.

"The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) has mobilized four NH90 helicopters, as well as a New Zealand P-3 Orion," he said.

"The first of the NH90s has retrieved 12 people from Kaikoura this morning and the other three aircraft will continue rotational flights."

Depending on weather conditions, the goal on Tuesday was to evacuate from Kaikoura about 140 people on a priority list, including tourists whose travel plans had been affected.

The U.S. Navy had offered two MH60 helicopters aboard its destroyer USS Sampson, which was currently in New Zealand waters.

New Zealand navy offshore patrol vessel HMNZS Wellington was on its way to the Kaikoura coast to conduct seabed surveillance to determine whether navy supply ship HMNZS Canterbury would be able to dock at Kaikoura or would have to anchor offshore.

"If the Canterbury anchors offshore, the ship has the capability to use its landing craft to reach affected people in Kaikoura," said Brownlee.

"The Canterbury will provide essential supplies - including water, food and chemical toilets - as well as uplifting the bulk of people stranded in Kaikoura."

Another priority was clearing the land route to Kaikoura from the south so that supplies and building materials could be delivered.

All roads into Kaikoura, a popular tourist destination famed for its coastal scenery and whale-watching activities, were blocked by landslides in the 7.5-magnitude quake which struck just after midnight Monday.

The NZDF said Tuesday it had about 5,000 kilograms of aid supplies earmarked for Kaikoura at Christchurch, including food, water and hygiene products, and jerrycans of diesel.

The area had been shaken by hundreds of aftershocks - some of them severe - and the aftershocks would continue, the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management said Tuesday.

The New Zealand Fire Service had deployed two water purification units and satellite communications equipment to Kaikoura.

Two people died in the quake: one in a collapsed house in Kaikoura and another at a property at Mount Lyford, north of Christchurch. Endit