By Bradley Klapper
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The United States dispatched a search-and-rescue team to New Zealand on Tuesday after a devastating earthquake killed dozens of people and left another 100 missing, and President Barack Obama said the U.S. stood ready to deploy more assistance.
Obama offered his condolences to the people of New Zealand after their second major quake in six months, while Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton phoned New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully to express her sorrow over the tremor that toppled buildings in Christchurch and killed at least 65 people.
Administration officials confirmed that Americans participating in two high-level delegations to the country were unharmed. To assist the humanitarian response, the U.S. on Tuesday sent a team that includes search-and-rescue staff from the Los Angeles County fire department.
“On behalf of the American people, Michelle and I extend our deepest condolences to the people of New Zealand and to the families and friends of the victims in Christchurch,” Obama said in a statement. “We stand ready to provide more assistance as needed.”
A U.S. delegation of 43 government, business and community leaders was in Christchurch on Tuesday for a U.S.-New Zealand Partnership Forum meeting, and Kurt Campbell, the State Department’s assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, participated.
The White House said Mariko Silver and Tim Manning, senior officials from the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, respectively, also were in the city when the quake struck. They were unharmed.
Nine U.S. congressmen attending the meeting as part of a separate delegation led by Rep. Don Manzullo, R-Ill., left the city several hours before the quake and were in Wellington, U.S. officials and a spokesman for the House Foreign Affairs Committee said Tuesday. All members of the two delegations are safe, the department said.
The U.S.-New Zealand forum brings together government and business leaders from both countries to discuss ways to cooperate on trade and other regional issues. Others in attendance included former Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and his wife, Susan. An aide to Bayh, Beth Chrusciel of the Washington law firm McGuireWoods, said the Bayhs were fine and had left Christchurch.
Former senior State Department officials Richard Armitage and Christopher Hill also were at the forum.
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said officials from both countries were in a meeting discussing plans to broaden the partnership between the United States and New Zealand when the tremor occurred. He said the U.S. would provide whatever assistance New Zealand requires.
“Our long history of friendship and mutual support in times of need is an example of our enduring bond,” he told reporters.