Geoff Mackley said it was the worst damage he had seen in 20 years
Fears are growing for the fate of some 2,000 Pacific islanders following a powerful storm that devastated their homes.
A New Zealand journalist said he had seen only about 20 people when he made the first flight over the island of Tikopia since Cyclone Zoe hit.
Tikopia and the neighbouring island of Anuta are part of the Solomon Islands.
There has been no contact with residents of either island since Saturday, when they were struck by the storm which was classified as a category five cyclone - the highest level.
Australia has sent a plane to the area to assess the damage.
Neither island has a landing strip and any aid will have to be sent by boat from the Solomon Islands' capital, Honiara, about 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) away.
The government of the Solomon Islands, to which the islands belong, delayed dispatching relief to the affected areas because it did not have the money to buy fuel for its patrol boats.
Fearsome winds
Geoff Mackley, a television cameraman, chartered a plane to get the first look at the damage on Tikopia.
"The island is a scene of total devastation," he wrote on his website.
"Every tree on the island has been blown over or shredded, the island is completely denuded of vegetation.
"Almost every building has been damaged, a few remain intact, while others have been shredded, and the sea has come through some villages, burying them."
Mackley, who says he has spent 20 years covering natural disasters, estimated Tikopia had been hit by winds of between 300 and 350 kilometres per hour (190-220 mph) when the storm made its direct hit.
"I will not speculate on the likely casualties or fatalities," he wrote.
"If [the number] is not large, it will be a miracle."
Australian aid
The Australian aircraft, scheduled to fly over the area on Wednesday, will not be able to land as neither island has an airfield, but it should be able to establish the extent of the damage.
The director of the Solomon Islands National Disaster Management
Office, Loti Yates, said Tikopia had probably been "flattened" by the
storm.
Cyclone Zoe - satellite photo
Meteorologists say the storm was strong enough to flatten buildings Bob Davis, Australia's High Commissioner in the Solomon Islands' capital, Honiara, said the islands' people had been warned of the storm's approach and had experience of sheltering in the cyclone-prone area.
Australia has also donated 200,000 Solomon dollars (US$27,438) after the Solomon Islands Government said it could not afford to send a patrol boat to the storm-hit area.
A four-year ethnic war has left the former British protectorate virtually bankrupt.
It will take the patrol boat three days to sail to the outlying islands.
Correspondents say that requesting help from Canberra will have been embarrassing for the Solomons.
Last week, the Solomon Islands Government was strongly criticised by the Australian Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, for misuse of public funds.
Prime Minister Allan Kemakeza had used Australian aid provided for
civil servants' salaries to pay money demanded by police who had fired
shots at his house.
-- Anonymous, January 01, 2003