An estimated 347,000 people - 40 percent of the population - have been affected across the archipelago of 300 islands

By Emma Batha

LONDON, March 1 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The Red Cross launched a $7 million appeal on Tuesday to fund emergency operations in Fiji where more than 62,000 people are sheltering in evacuation centres following the worst cyclone ever recorded in the southern hemisphere.

Aid workers also warned of "colossal" implications for children's health, education and development following Tropical Cyclone Winston which ripped through the Pacific nation 10 days ago.

The category five storm brought wind gusts of up to 325 kph (200 mph), killing at least 42 people and destroying homes, infrastructure and crops.

An estimated 347,000 people - 40 percent of the population - have been affected across the archipelago of 300 islands.

"Entire villages have been devastated and people are in a state of shock," said Filipe Nainoca, Director General of the Fiji Red Cross Society.

"We are responding to their immediate needs now and will help them through the weeks and months ahead to rebuild their lives," he said in a statement.

The Red Cross appeal will help 38,500 people in the worst affected areas, providing them with blankets, jerry cans, clothing, kitchen sets, tools and tarpaulins.

Aid workers will also ensure communities have access to clean water, take steps to prevent the spread of diseases, help survivors recover from psychological trauma and reconnect families who have lost contact.

The U.N. children's agency UNICEF said 120,000 children had been affected by Winston which struck on Feb 20.

"This is a truly nationwide disaster for Fiji," UNICEF Pacific representative Karen Allen said.

"We have met far too many children who have lost literally everything; their possessions, their home, the family's crops that they depend on for food and possibly income, their school and their community health clinic ... They need urgent and comprehensive assistance."

Fiji reopened many of its schools on Monday but at least 240 have been damaged or destroyed. Many others are being used as temporary shelters for families who have lost their homes.

UNICEF is helping set up temporary classrooms in tents and distributing educational supplies, safe drinking water, emergency health kits and has sent typhoid-tetanus vaccines to the ministry of health.

(Editing by Katie Nguyen; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, which covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org to see more stories.)

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