The UK announced on Saturday it would donate up to $A3.87 million towards relief efforts. Residents looking through storm damage caused by Cyclone Pam in Port Vila Credit:UNICEF Pacific The funds will be made immediately available to UN organisations and international aid agencies already working in the region following a request from the Vanuatu government. International Development Secretary Justine Greening said: "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."

Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop said Australia was ready to assist with a crisis response team. Waves and scattered debris along the coast, caused by Cyclone Pam, in the Vanuatu capital of Port Vila. Credit:UNICEF Pacific "We are still assessing the situation but we stand ready to assist," she said on Saturday. "We stand ready to support with whatever is needed, working with our partners, New Zealand and other countries in the Pacific." She said there were probably 3000 Australians in Vanuatu at any one time, but the government had not received any reports regarding Australian citizens.

Vanuatu's National Disaster Management Office reported six people are so far confirmed dead and 20 people have suffered serious injuries, but the death and injury toll is expected to rise as search and rescue efforts have just begun. There are unconfirmed reports 44 people have died in Penama province, according to the United Nations Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs for the Pacific. Two foreign nationals are believed to have drowned when their sailing boat sank in the rough seas, but their nationalities are not yet known. Senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology Simon Allen said Cyclone Pam was "one of the most intense cyclones ever recorded in the southern hemisphere". Destructive winds began lashing the outer islands at 9pm on Friday as the category five storm made its first contact with land. Torrential rainfall is believed to have triggered flash flooding in low-lying parts of the country and along the coast.

Overnight Cyclone Pam charted a southward path of destruction, passing through several of the country's 83 islands, including the capital, Port Vila, on the island of Efate. It remained a category five cyclone, and was clearing the southern fringe of the archipelago at midday on Saturday. By Saturday morning, early reports of Cyclone Pam's devastation began trickling in as residents emerged from shelters to survey the scene and begin the emergency response operation. The Red Cross said it would be prioritising securing food and clean water for tens of thousands of people. The damage in Port Vila, where even some of the cement-reinforced buildings had roofs blown off, is an early indication of the expected catastrophe in the less-developed islands, where locals predominantly live in traditional thatched housing. The huts on those islands would have been picked up "like confetti" by the winds last night, Ms Morrison said. "It's difficult to see how any preservation could save a structure like that."

Save The Children's program manager Tim Nelson huddled in his concrete house in the coastal community of Pango with his wife, child and six colleagues and friends whose own homes they knew wouldn't last the night, as winds and water battered the house for eight hours. When the full strength of the cyclone hit around midnight it was pitch black, with no visibility and the terrifying sound of the winds and debris flying around, he said. "It was unlike anything I've ever experienced."

The next morning, the tropical island paradise was "unrecognisable" from the day before. "Roads are blocked. Debris is everywhere. Sheet metal is bent like tin foil … You can't feel sorry for yourself because it is the same everywhere," he said. Red Cross' Vanuatu disaster management coordinator Augustine Garae spent the sleepless night in Port Villa, where he said the destruction was "inexplicable".

"Ninety per cent of houses are destroyed," he said. "All of the trees have fallen down. All of the power lines are down." At Port Villa's Central Hospital, the surgical, medical and children's wards had been damaged and sustained flooding, Mr Garae said. The reports of widespread destruction came as aid agencies launched emergency appeals to help cyclone victims. The Red Cross, Save the Children, CARE Australia, World Vision and UNICEF all expressed fears of a humanitarian crisis with an untold number left homeless.

"People are trying to cope but it is beyond their capacity. We are estimating right now that the whole population of Vanuatu is affected," Mr Garae said.

The immediate priorities were providing shelter, food and water and to prevent the outbreak of communicable diseases, Mr Garae said. Save The Children's Tim Nelson estimated as many as 150,000 people would be left without liveable homes. "For the people in evacuation centres, without basic services, running out of food, with no running water. Their experience has only just begun," Mr Nelson said "It's essential that we get them appropriate care as quickly as possible," said Save the Children's Vanuatu director Tom Skirrow. Aid workers in Port Vila feared the damage would be even worse in the outer islands, where remote communities would not have easy access to emergency shelters.

The lack of mobile phone coverage, lack of power and roads blocked with debris and upturned trees have hampered communication and rescue efforts, as aid agencies have yet to be able to even make contact with some remote villages and islands. "Homes have been blown to pieces," said Charlie Damon, CARE Australia's program manager. "And even evacuation shelters, where people had sought refuge, have been flooded and left exposed." Even those who could remember Cyclone Uma in 1987 were already describing Cyclone Pam as the worst natural disaster to hit Vanuatu living memory, Mr Nelson said. UNICEF chief executive Norman Gillespie agreed: "The people of Vanuatu have never experienced a storm like this, and it really is a catastrophe." The cyclone also shredded trees and tore through buildings as it tracked towards other island nations.

In Tuvalu, homes were destroyed by a storm surge swelling up to five metres, Plan International Australia staff reported. On Kiribati, food supplies were running low with a major transport route cut off and repair work hampered by bad weather. Fresh water wells had been contaminated with salt water, the aid agency reported. A red alert remains in place for the Malampa, Shefa and Tafea provinces, which are still being hammered with "very destructive winds" and "very rough to phenomenal seas", according to the Vanuatu Meteorological Service. A landslide is also expected, the service warned. With Anna Whitelaw, Steve Lillebuen and wires To make a donation visit:

Red Cross Cyclone Pam Appeal Visit redcross.org.au or call 1800 811 700 to make a secure donation Save The Children Cyclone Pam Appeal Visit savethechildren.org.au/cyclonepam or call 1800 76 00 11 CARE Australia Cyclone Pam Response

Visit care.org.au/pam or call 1800 020 046