Cyclone-struck islands fear illnesses

Fiji sent boats on Tuesday carrying desperately needed aid to remote islands and coastal villages devastated by a powerful cyclone which killed at least 29 people, as aid workers warned of possible outbreaks of Zika and Dengue viruses.

There are fears the death toll could rise in the nation of 900,000 people when communication resumes with the smaller islands hit by Cyclone Winston on Saturday.

Aerial footage of outlying islands taken by the Royal New Zealand Air Force, and posted on the Fiji government's official website, showed whole villages flattened and flooded after Winston's destructive winds, up to 325 kph, tore through the archipelago of 300 islands. Thousands of Fijians live in tin or wooden shacks in low-lying coastal areas.