Bigger Oceania neighbors Australia and New Zealand deployed military planes to deliver water, sanitation kits, medicines and temporary shelter to the island of Vanuatu which was heavily ravaged on Saturday by Cyclone Pam.

Financial relief is also on the way as Australia promised US$3.8 million, New Zealand US$1.8 million and former colonizer Britain US$2.95 million in aid. The International Monetary Fund said it is ready to send money and assistance to rebuild the island's economy, while the World Bank is studying a swift insurance payout to the Vanuatu government.

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Bringing 300 kph winds and heavy rainfall, Pam --- considered as powerful as Super Typhoon Haiyan that rammed the Philippines in 2013 --- damaged 42,000 houses and displaced 150,000 people in Vanuatu. It also killed eight people and injured another 20, although authorities expect the death toll to still go up, reports Reuter.

Save the Children Director Tim Nelson estimates that about 15,000 homes are no longer habitable.

"It was incomprehensible what was bearing down. No one here in living memory has seen anything like this," ABC quotes Nelson as saying.

Pam likewise smashed boats and washed away roads and bridges, with the southern island of Tanna as the worst hit, according to the Australian Red Cross. Also badly damaged is the main town in the island of Erromango, aid organizations said.

Meanwhile, due to water surges that were as high as 8 metres, three-fourths of homes in the Port Vila, the capital city, were severely damaged or destroyed.

However, Vanuatu residents are trying to recover as people return to the market and start cleaning up the fallen trees and house materials strewn by the cyclone, observed Tom Perry from CARE Australia, an aid agency.

Because of unconfirmed reports that there is minor looting of hardware equipment, a 12-hour curfew from 6 pm to 6 am was declared in Port Vila, said Oxfam Country Manager Colin Collett van Rooyen.

Red Cross Vanuatu CEO Jacqueline de Gaillarde sought food donations because those saved by the islanders for a rainy day were washed away with their homes. She said that boats are needed to reach the eight other islands since airports are inundated, and it is impossible for aircraft to land.

Nelson believes that it would take years for Vanuatu to fully recover from the wrath of Pam. He said the main focus of aid groups would be to bring back to normal the lives of islanders by helping them construct stronger shelters and meet their basic needs, including medical facilities to attend to their medical needs.

TagsCyclone Pam, vanuatu, Vanuatu cyclone, financial aid, new zealand, Australia, UK