7 Nov 2009

Tsunami memorial service to be held in Auckland

11:58 am on 7 November 2009

The New Zealand Government is holding a tsunami memorial service in Auckland tomorrow.

The service will commemorate the lives of the almost two hundred people who died when huge waves struck Tonga, Samoa and American Samoa at the end of September.

Tonga's Prime Minister is attending the service, to which Samoa's Prime Minister, the Governor of American Samoa, Tongan and Samoan community leaders and families of the victims have also been invited.

Lord Tangipa from the island of Niuatoptapu, where the tsunami killed nine people, will accompany Dr Feleti Sevele to the service.

The programme includes an address by New Zealand's Prime Minister, a reading by the New Zealand Governor General and the laying of wreaths by the Prime Ministers of Samoa and Tonga and the Governor of American Samoa.