New Zealand minister Kiri Allan to take medical leave after cervical cancer diagnosis

Emergency management minister calls on other women to get smear tests as she begins fight of my life'

Kiri Allan, the minister who guided New Zealand through recent tsunami and earthquake warnings, has been diagnosed with stage three cervical cancer.

Allan won praise for her calm handling of last month's earthquakes and tsunami warning. A series of earthquakes ranging from 7.1 to 8.1 magnitude hit off the East Cape and Kermadec Islands in the early hours of 5 March, prompting an evacuation of some towns and cities on the coast of New Zealand's North Island.