Wellington - New Zealand and Australia on Friday announced new emergency aid packages for Fiji as officials said nearly 12,000 people were homeless after floods wreaked widespread havoc.

As cleanup efforts began after a week of heavy rains swept torrents of water through towns and villages, killing at least 11 people and ruining 300 businesses, the Pacific island state's military government appealed to 20 countries for help.

The damage was so bad in the tourist centre of Nadi that there were calls to bulldoze shops and restaurants, which have been flooded to roof height twice, and rebuild the town entirely, Radio New Zealand reported from the capital Suva.

Fiji's sugar cane industry, second in importance to the economy after tourism, and a major supplier of sugar to the European Union, has been decimated and will take years to recover, the Cane Growers' Association said.

Earlier, the Foreign Affairs Secretary Ratu Isoa Gavidi told Radio New Zealand that 20 countries had been asked to help, with drinking water, water tanks and purification tablets at the top of the list.

He said it could be two or three weeks before fresh water supplies could be restored to some flood-stricken areas and clothing, bedding and tents were also needed.

New Zealand and Australia, which had imposed sanctions on Fiji's military regime which seized power in a coup two years ago, have so far supplied aid only to the Red Cross and non-governmental relief organizations.

"It is clear that the flooding has caused significant damage to infrastructure, businesses and crops in Fiji," New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully said. "Over the coming weeks the immediate relief phase will become a longer-term recovery effort."

Australia's Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said that while his government had difficulty accepting Fiji's interim government and wanted to see the country return to democracy, it would not withhold humanitarian assistance.

A planned trip by United Nations/British Commonwealth delegation to Fiji this month was postponed due to the flooding. It is part of international efforts to help the island state of about 930,000 people to return to democracy following the 2006 military coup. (dpa)