Meanwhile, the Category 5 Tropical Cyclone was the most powerful recorded cyclone ever to hit Fiji.
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“The official death toll now is 29, another eight bodies were found on the island of Koro since yesterday”, government spokesman Ewan Perrin said on Tuesday.
“If Winston does hit the North Island directly it will not be as a tropical cyclone, nor would it be on a storm scale anywhere close to what Fiji had”, it said.
Many are thought to remain homeless for months to come as a result of the high level of destruction caused by the cyclone.
The worst hit region is Koro Island where authorities have warned of “catastrophic” damage.
In one image a lone man stands on the tin roof of his ruined home, apparently waving both arms at the military plane as it passes overhead.
“We have identified downed power lines and have begun repairing our fallen towers, power has been restored to some areas, but in others, including our western division, damage to our power network is extensive, and repairs could take considerable time”, he said.
During the second half of the week, Winston will turn westward taking the cyclone between New Caledonia and New Zealand and into the Coral Sea to the east of Australia.
The US Agency for International Development is providing an initial $100,000 in humanitarian aid to the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies for critical relief supplies and basic water, sanitation and hygiene assistance to Fiji.
The authorities have moved quickly to ensure that Fiji’s main airport at Nadi is cleared of rubble and re-opened. This leaves those living on the remote islands without shelter, food, safe drinking water and even the tools and materials to rebuild their shattered lives.
Canberra had also offered the use of a P-3 Orion aircraft and MRH-90 helicopters to reach outlying islands.
He said officials also had fears about nearby Taveuni Island, home to about 12,000 people, because contact with people there had been limited.
Save the Children has been working in Fiji since 1974 providing education and children protection services, and now the agency is working with the Ministry of Education to lead the education response to Cyclone Winston to support schools to reopen as soon as possible.
New Zealand will send another Defence Force flight to Fiji and provide an extra $1.8 million in funding, said Foreign Minister Murray McCully.
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“The initial urgent needs are clean fresh food, shelter – so tarpaulins for people who don’t have shelter because their houses have been destroyed – and food”, says Tearfund’s John Watson.
