Fiji flights reveal flattened villages

Liv Casben

Last Updated: Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:50:00 +1100

The devastation to Fiji from tropical cyclone Tomas has been confirmed in the first aerial assessments of the country's north and east.

The air checks came as the first overseas aid began to be distributed.

Pictures taken from the air show houses scattered like matchsticks.

Initial aerial patrols were hampered by cloud, but later the situation was clearer from the ground.

Entire villages were flattened on the island of Taveuni.

Zone

It has a population of more than 12,000.

A resident who lost his house said: "We had (material) flying, like roofing iron and things, but we took precautions."

Australian aid is starting to make its way to the areas in Fiji worst affected by Cyclone Tomas.

The northern islands remain a disaster zone as the clean-up continues.

The islands were battered by wind gusts of up to 250 kilometres an hour.

The focus is now on getting aid to the worst-affected islands.

Judith Robinson, from the Australian Government's overseas aid program, AusAID, says supplies are starting to make their way through.

She says the northern Lau group of islands is one of the worst affected.