Blanketed by ash after a huge underwater volcano erupted, Tonga remains cut off from the world.
Planes are unable to land on the South Pacific nation’s main runway and the internet is disconnected because a critical underwater cable was ruptured.
Three people were confirmed dead tonight including Briton Angela Glover - but the death toll could rise.
Aerial images published online were taken from a New Zealand Defence Force reconnaissance plane.
Aid agencies fear damage on some of Tonga’s outer-lying islands will be even worse. On one island every home was destroyed by 50ft tsunami waves which swamped the coastline following Saturday’s eruption.
Ships were tonight heading to Tonga with supplies including bottled water.
Some of the islands’ communications and power have now been restored but the situation shows the vulnerability of undersea cables, the backbone of global communications.
Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni’s office said in a statement today that every home on Mango island, where around 50 people live, had been destroyed.
Only two houses remained on Fonoifua, and Nomuka suffered extensive damage.
Curtis Tuihalangingie, Tonga’s deputy head of mission in Australia, said the “alarming” pictures showed a village destroyed on Mango and buildings missing on Atata, closest to the volcano.
He said: “People panic, people run and get injuries. Possibly there will be more deaths. We pray that is not the case.”
Alexander Matheou, of International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said in addition to the ash, there is “large-scale coastal damage as a result of the tsunami wave”.
