The UK is to donate up to £2m towards relief efforts in Vanuatu following the devastation caused by Cyclone Pam.
At least eight people have been killed after the cyclone ripped into the Pacific islands of Vanuatu, causing “complete devastation” as it flattened villages, ripped down power lines and flooded coastal areas.
Aid officials fear that dozens have died in the cyclone, which hit the island nation with winds of 210 mph and sea surges reaching up to eight metres high in one of the worst natural disasters the region has ever witnessed.
Up to £1m will be made available immediately to UN organisations and international aid agencies in the region, the Department for International Development said.
An additional £1m will be made available through the UK’s Rapid Response Facility, which provides emergency support via pre-approved organisations in the event of an international humanitarian disaster.
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International Development Secretary Justine Greening said: “All our thoughts are with the people of Vanuatu as they start to assess the full scale of this disaster.
“It is already clear that there has been widespread devastation. Many families have lost their homes and power supplies, roads and other infrastructure have been left badly damaged.
“Our support will ensure relief agencies can provide temporary shelters; protect vulnerable people, especially women and children; and provide emergency supplies as the country responds to this emergency.”
The storm was said to be comparable in strength to Typhoon Haiyan, which killed more than 6,000 people in the Philippines in 2013.
“It felt like the world was going to end,” said Alice Clements, a spokeswoman for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
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“It’s like a bomb has gone off in the centre of the town. There is no power. There is no water.”
Tom Skirrow, country director for the Save the Children aid group, said that Vanuatu’s National Disaster Management Office had confirmed eight dead and 20 injured. He said he expected those figures to rise substantially.
Aid workers in Papua New Guinea said at least one person had been killed by the storm there.
Thousands of people whose flimsy homes made of thatch were torn apart have spent the night hunkering down in shelters as the cyclone raged.
While there were no reports of looting as yet, Mr Skirrow said some men have been seen wandering the streets of the capital Port Vila armed with machetes.
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Satellite photographs showed the storm covering virtually all of Vanuatu, a sprawling country of 83 islands and 260,000 people 2,000 km (1,250 miles) northeast of the Australian city of Brisbane.
Witnesses described sea surges of up to eight metres (26 feet) and flooding throughout the capital, Port Vila, after the category 5 cyclone hit late on Friday.
Chloe Morrison a spokeswoman for the World Vision aid group said the storm had been terrifying.
“Trees are across the roads. Some of them are piled up so you can barely see over them,” she said. “There are reports that there have been casualties across all of the islands.
“This is going to need a long and sustained response. People in Vanuatu are subsistence farmers. They grow food for their own consumption. Crops will be absolutely wiped out from this.”
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The United Nations was preparing a major relief operation while Julie Bishop, the Australian Foreign Minister, said Canberra was ready to offer the neighbouring island whatever help it could.
Outlying islands may take weeks to reach, aid officials said, while a lack of clean water and widespread damage to crops meant the situation could deteriorate sharply in coming days.
Sune Gudnitz, regional head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said sending in military aircraft was an option, possibly from Australia.
“We fear the worst,” he said.
As darkness fell on Saturday, the storm was moving off to the south but the wind was still strong.
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Formerly known as the New Hebrides, Vanuatu was jointly ruled by France and Britain until independence in 1980. It is among the world’s poorest countries and highly prone to natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tsunamis and storms.