The toll from Cyclone Winston in Fiji rose to 42 on Wednesday, with disaster response authorities saying this is likely to increase.
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“The scale of damage from TC Winston across Fiji is devastating”, the agency’s Danielle Parry said.
The Fijian agriculture ministry told local media the cyclone has completely destroyed crops across the island, while charity Save The Children said scores of schools have been destroyed or badly damaged.
Care International spokesman Dylan Quinnell, who is in Fiji with a disaster management team, said 35,000 people were sheltering in more than 400 evacuation centres.
The New Zealand government has already pledged close to $2 million in aid for Fiji in the aftermath of the category five Cyclone Winston and aid supplies, including tarpaulins and generators, have been flown to the island nation.
Aerial photographs taken by the military aircraft of New Zealand, offering support to the Fiji government, show entire villages wiped out by the cyclone. “Numerous most remote communities have been hit hardest, and Red Cross is working urgently to get relief supplies to these villages”.
The cyclone also wreaked havoc on the Tongan islands of Vava’u and Ha’apai, where more than 2500 people were evacuated.
“We have also sent two P3 Orion reconnaissance airship and they will be completing a daily evaluation of the damage especially in those outer islands”, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told parliament.
Authorities have warned of “catastrophic” damage to Koro Island, Fiji’s seventh-largest island.
Prime Minister of Fiji, Voreqe Bainimarama, in a statement has urged residents to remain calm as help is on its way.
Yet worldwide visitor numbers bounced back and hit a record 750,000 a year ago, mostly from Australia and New Zealand.
“They’re crying, they’re stressed, they’re upset, they don’t know what tomorrow will bring”, she said.
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“I offer my deepest condolences to the people of Fiji for the devastation caused by Tropical Cyclone Winston, and my honest sympathies to those who have lost their loved ones, homes, and livelihoods”, said ADB President Takehiko Nakao.
