Initial supplies of drinking water and medical aid have begun arriving in Vanuatu.
Officials are still assessing the scale of the damage caused by Cyclone Pam, which hit the group of islands over the weekend.
A state of emergency has been declared in the capital, Port Vila, but that is expected to be extended as contact is made with the estimated 60 inhabited islands.
The storm – one of the most powerful ever recorded in the Pacific – has damaged or destroyed 90 per cent of buildings in the island state.
Tens of thousands of people have been made homeless.
