Pacific Islands

The earthquake has claimed at least 10 lives in Chile.

The French High Commission had warned the people on the Marquesas Islands to prepare for waves of up to 1.4 metres last night.

The Geophysical Laboratory in Tahiti says waves of slightly higher than one metre can be expected in the Marquesas and no higher than 30 centimetres in the most populated parts of the territory.

The French High Commissioner called for people in the Marquesas not to stay on the coast last night and to check moorings.

Defending his government's policies on climate change in parliament, Michael Woodhouse said that the government is making a significant contribution towards greenhouse gas mitigation, and helping Pacific Island countries through aid.

He said Pacific Islanders want to stay in their own countries and that to suggest they want to dash to New Zealand to be saved is a form of colonial paternalism.

The tremor at 2254 UTC was recorded at a depth of 10 kilometres.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii says waves of between one and three metres could hit French Polynesia.

Waves of up to a metre are forecast for New Caledonia, New Zealand, Fiji, the Samoas, the Cook Islands, Tokelau, Vanuatu, Kiribati, Tonga, Solomon Islands, and the scattered islands over the north Pacific.

Smaller waves may hit Tuvalu, Papua New Guinea and Nauru.

The workshop was held for Pacific Island countries to address whether, how and why to ratify the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (1958) New York Convention and whether to adapt their laws to the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration.

Enele Sopoaga, who also chairs the Small Island States group, says he is disappointed by the failure of last week's Pacific Islands Forum meeting to make a stronger statement on climate change.

Australia and New Zealand did not commit to tougher emission targets called for by the SIS.

Mr Sopoaga says Australia's approach at the Forum and joke by their Immigration Minister about climate change have shone a light on their indifference.

The leaders of Tuvalu, Papua New Guinea and Fiji have expressed hope that Mr Turnbull, who was this week sworn in as prime minister after ousting Tony Abbott as Liberal Party leader, could be a champion for Pacific countries battling rising sea levels and intensifying weather systems.

The change in Canberra came a week after the Pacific Islands Forum meeting highlighted a growing chasm between the Pacific countries and Australia and New Zealand on the issue of climate change.

The 30 participants, all from countries that are Taiwan's diplomatic allies, are receiving training in the areas of automobile maintenance, carpentry and electrical engineering, said Lee Pai-po deputy secretary-general of the Taipei-based International Cooperation and Development Fund (TaiwanICDF).

The programme, which started Sept. 4 and runs until Dec. 22, is aimed at cultivating seed instructors for vocational training in the participating Pacific island countries, namely Kiribati, Nauru, Palau, Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands and Solomon Islands, Lee said at a news briefing.

“Climatologists are now unanimous in predicting that we are heading for a strong to severe El Niño event in the coming months. Some modelling is now suggesting this El Niño could be as severe as the event in 1997/98 which is the worst on record and brought severe drought to PNG and Fiji,” United Nations Resident Coordinator, Osnat Lubrani said.

The Prime Minister John Key says this will take the total aid commitment to the region over the three years to nearly a billion New Zealand dollars.

He made the announcement at the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders summit in Port Moresby.

He says New Zealand is a Pacific nation and it is committed to working with its closest neighbours to develop their economies and build a prosperous and stable region.

Meanwhile, John Key has announced a new broadcasting initiative that will see more New Zealand television content provided to the Pacific, free-of-charge.

“Sea cucumber remain one of the oldest marine fisheries commodity some 200 plus years old yet many buyers, processors, exporter continue to charge poor prices to Pacific Island producers for their produces,” said a recent media release from the Fisheries Department.

The new buying price sets the ‘white teatfish’ as the most expensive species with a minimum price of Vt3,200 per kilo for a wet (raw) product and Vt8,000 per kilo for a dry (processed) product.

The minimum price is Vt100 for a wet product of Lollyfish. A processed product of the species is Vt1000.