People living on a remote island in the north-west of Vanuatu are having to drink saltwater following last week's devastating cyclone, the BBC has discovered.
Residents of Moso say they are still waiting for outside help to arrive.
Aid agencies have begun trying to access the country's small outer islands, but flooding has stopped their planes from landing in some areas.
One pilot said the normally lush landscape had been transformed.
It now looked as if it had been destroyed by a bush fire, the pilot said.
In addition to drinking water, officials say there is also a desperate need for food and shelter, with tens of thousands of people now homeless.
The larger islands have begun to receive some international help.
The United Nations has revised the official number of dead, bringing it down to 11 from an earlier figure of 24.
Four days after the cyclone struck, aid agencies say that outlying areas of Vanuatu hit by Cyclone Pam suffered "significantly worse" damage than the island nation's capital.
Prime Minister Joe Natuman told the BBC that the full extent of the damage across the islands was still not clear.
He said that the more heavily populated islands of Tanna and Efate received most of the damage.
"The other islands should be okay," he said, "except maybe one group."
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Jon Donnison: "The full impact may not be known for several days'
Local people and aid agencies say that the rebuilding effort will be immense.
Getting aid to the islands has proven difficult because of a lack of landing strips or deepwater ports.
Teams carrying medical supplies, food, water and shelter equipment landed on the outer islands of Tanna and Erromango, agencies said.
Tanna island has a population of about 30,000 people and is about 200km (124 miles) south of the capital Port Vila. It was directly in the path of the cyclone.
Tom Perry from Care Australia said relief workers in Tanna reported the hospital was functioning but had no roof.
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said military planes flown over the islands had reported major damage to houses and crops.
Communication to many of the other 80 islands in the archipelago are still down and officials have warned survivors could quickly run out of food.
The struggle to reach Vanuatu's islandsAurelia Balpe, head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) for the Pacific, says the Vanuatu government is co-ordinating assessment and aid, including flights to other islands.
Aid agencies have organised themselves in clusters to better co-ordinate help.
"There are difficulties in understanding how large a plane can land on some islands. In many of these small islands, they don't have ports that can handle large vessels. In some places we may need to construct landing places for planes and boats," Ms Balpe said.
Many smaller boats in Port Vila were damaged by the storm, and the distance is a challenge. "It's about 150km from Port Vila to the island of Erromango - which would take at least four hours in a small boat - and another 80km from Erromango to Tanna."
Poor weather and rough seas are also an issue. "The first couple of days were very difficult because of the cyclone, and even now there are really bad swells and storm surges," Ms Balpe said.
The category five storm hit Vanuatu on Saturday, bringing wind gusts of up to 300km/h (185mph).
Many people have lost their homes or face extensive rebuilding. Telecommunications, power and water supplies have all been badly affected.
In Port Vila a clean-up is under way but the destruction was extensive. Power and water have been restored in some areas but up to 90% of homes have been damaged.
The hospital is coping with an influx of injured people but a surgeon said beds had been moved outside because of structural damage.
The president, returning from a conference in Japan, has described the storm as a "monster" linked to climate change, citing changing weather patterns, rising seas and heavier-than-average rain in Vanuatu.
Australia announced on Tuesday that it was sending more personnel, including a search and rescue team, and three more military planes carrying aid.
How poor is Vanuatu?
- The UN considers it one of world's least developed countries. It has a GDP of $828m (£560.7m) compared to neighbouring Australia's $1.56tn, according to the World Bank
- About two-thirds of people make a living from agriculture. Fishing, tourism and offshore financial services are the other main industries
- Australia estimates that about 70% of the population of 250,000 live on remote islands or in rural areas, with few services and limited access to clean drinking water, transport or electricity
- Australia is Vanuatu's main donor, giving A$60.7m (£31.45m: $46.5) in 2013/4, about 60% of total aid
Are you in Vanuatu? Have you been affected by the cyclone? You can share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. If you are available to speak to a BBC journalist, please include a contact telephone number.
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