Prince William has begun a tour of disaster-stricken areas of New Zealand and Australia.

威廉王子已启程前往新西兰和澳大利亚的受灾地区进行慰问。

The prince, who is not accompanied by his fiancee Kate Middleton, is travelling on behalf of the Queen.

He started in Christchurch, New Zealand, where more than 160 people died in an earthquake last month.

Prince William will also visit the scene of a mining explosion that killed 29 people last November, before going on to flood-hit areas of Australia.

The prince was greeted at Christchurch's emergency management centre by the minister for earthquake recovery Gerry Brownlee, and Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker.

He was also due to visit the city's "red zone" to survey the damage and will attend a national memorial service there.

In Australia, he will go to several locations in Queensland over two days followed by a visit to north-west Victoria.

Speaking earlier this month, a St James's Palace spokesman said the visit had been arranged following invitations from the prime ministers of New Zealand and Australia.

The spokesman added: "The Royal Family have been watching the natural disasters with the same shock and sadness as everyone else.

"They wanted to show their solidarity¹（团结） with the people of New Zealand and Australia, and the decision was taken with the prime ministers' offices and the royal household that Prince William should attend and visit the countries."

The magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck the city of Christchurch on New Zealand's South Island on 22 February this year.

Also on the South Island, 29 miners became trapped by a gas explosion at the Pike River coal mine in Atarau on 19 November last year.

Parts of Australia were affected² by torrential rains（暴雨） starting in November last year, forcing rivers to burst their banks.

Prince William was last in New Zealand in January 2010, when he represented the Queen in Auckland and Wellington.

He made a private visit to Sydney and Melbourne in Australia the same month. He first visited Australia as a baby on his parents' tour in 1983.