
Fiji is in a state of natural disaster and its people are in urgent need after Cyclone Winston ripped through the Island nation and left a trail of destruction and heartbreak with 44 dead, more than 35,000 homeless and everyone - babies, families and the elderly - with nothing.

Devastating images show the impact of Fiji's biggest ever storm, with debris scattered everywhere and nothing but single walls standing for some homes.

Mothers cradle children in the wreckage of their homes, children huddle together as they seek refuge at evacuation centres and fragile, elderly citizens are forced to fend themselves, left with nothing but the shirt on their backs.

A state of natural disaster and a nationwide curfew had been declared for the next 30 days by the Fijian Government, who has initiated the clean-up process by clearing the huge amounts of debris scattered everywhere.

Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama is warning his devastated nation it faces a long and difficult recovery.

'Almost no part of our nation has been left unscarred,' Mr Bainimarama said in a national address on Wednesday.

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Fijian woman Kalisi holds her son Tuvosa, 3, as she sits on a bed in the remnants of her home damaged by Cyclone Winston in the Rakiraki District of Fiji's Ra province

The shell of a house remains after Fiji's most powerful every cyclone, Cyclone Winston, left little standing and intact in Nasau Village

Salome Ululagi stands in the remains of her house destroyed by Cyclone Winston in the village of Tavua on Koro Island in Fiji

Naresh Kumar of Tuvu Lautoka looks at the remains of his house after it was destroyed by Cyclone Winston. The Category 5 Tropical Cyclone made landfall in Fiji on Saturday February 20, continuing its path of destruction into Sunday 21 February

A woman holding her daughter in the remnants of her house after Cyclone Winston hit the region in the Rakiraki District of Ra province on Viti Levu in Fiji. Cyclone-devastated Fiji said it was likely to need more foreign aid on February 25 as the body count from the most powerful storm in its history climbed to 44

Locals taking shelter in an evacuation centre located in a church after Cyclone Winston in Ra province on Viti Levu in Fiji

Makereta Nasiki (R), aged 13, sitting in her room, showing the damage caused by Cyclone Winston in the town of Ba on Viti Levu in Fiji

A destroyed home located in front of one of the highest points on the island, where villagers evacuated to after the eye of the cyclone passed over them to seek safety from the unrelenting storm surges that were experienced during Cyclone Winston

A Total Service Station in Ba Town was left in absolute ruins, the metal shelter crashed to the ground after Cyclone Winston

Young children and families preparing for another night in an evacuation centre after Cyclone Winston hit the region, in Ba on Viti Levu

He said Winston, believed to be the most powerful storm ever to hit Fiji, had left 'a terrible trail of destruction in its wake' and created a need that is great and urgent.

'Right now the priority is on restoring essential services and supplying our people with sufficient food, water and shelter,' he said.

The immense scale of destruction across the Pacific nation is becoming apparent as rescue workers reach outlying areas in the hard-hit north and west of the main island as well as remote islands exposed to the full fury of the Category 5 storm.

Cyclone Winston struck with 325km/h gusting winds on Saturday night, destroying thousands of homes, knocking out power across the islands and leaving a death toll that has risen steadily as news filters back from cut-off areas.

Aid workers with UNICEF Australia have delivered emergency water and sanitation kits plus medical and education supplies to Koro Island - a small outpost between Fiji's two largest islands which was among the worst-hit.

Clean water and food are becoming urgent problems for remote areas as power and communications remain down across large parts of Fiji.

Children playing on the Rakiraki river near the village of Rakiraki after Cyclone Winston hit the region, on Viti Levu in Fiji

A tree crashed through this house, gutting the property as it made its pass of destruction through Ba in Fiji

A mother with her son in their damaged house after Cyclone Winston hit the area in the Rakiraki District of Ra province on Viti Levu in Fiji

'The scale and reach of this disaster is enormous and the needs for this response are immense,' UNICEF Fiji aid worker Alice Clements said.

'Whole villages have been wiped out - where there was once a house, there's now a concrete slab.'

Local media are reporting new stories of devastation regularly: the government-owned Fiji Broadcasting Corporation said only eight of 161 houses remained standing in one province in the centre of Fiji's largest island, Viti Levu.

The Fiji Times Online reported more than 34,000 people remain in 424 evacuation centres across the country, most of them in the Western Division of the main island.

Damage to homes and land at Urata after tropical cyclone Winston hit parts of Fiji. The image was taken during a Royal New Zealand Air Force flyover to help assess the severity of the impact caused by Winston

A Total Service Station in Ba Town was left in absolute ruins, the metal shelter crashed to the ground after Cyclone Winston

Australian Defence Minister Marise Payne says HMAS Canberra will be dispatched to assist Fiji and should arrive on March 1.

Four Globemaster cargo planes have already arrived, carrying 19 tonnes of supplies along with aircraft and personnel while Australia has also sent a six-person medical assistance team, 32 defence personnel and staff from the immigration and trade departments to help Australians get home.

People wishing to donate to the relief effort can do so through a number of charities including UNICEF's Fiji Children's Emergency Appeal at www.unicef.org/fiji and CARE Australia's Cyclone Winston Emergency Appeal at www.care.org.au

A full list of humanitarian groups is available on the Australian Council for International Development website.