Critical food and water shortages are just two of the problems facing victims of the natural disaster as they start to leave evacuation centres in Vanuatu, UN coordinating agency, OCHA said.

Humanitarian workers said that providing life saving assistance remains difficult in some areas where 90 per cent of shelters have been wiped out and roads remain impassable.

UN humanitarian coordinating agency OCHA said that more than 90 per cent of shelters were destroyed by the cyclone, which was one of the worst ever to hit land.

UNICEF said that children in the most inaccessible islands were "in serious danger" of disease amid acute water shortages almost everywhere.

UN partner IOM meanwhile said that it was seeking $1 million to help people plant crops to replace the extensive damage done by the cyclone, said.

Humanitarian workers said that providing life saving assistance remains difficult in some areas where 90 per cent of shelters have been wiped out and roads remain impassable.