A woman holds her three-year-old outside their damaged home as nightfalls after Cyclone Pam in Tanna, about 200km from Port Vila, capital city of the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, March 17, 2015. REUTERS

PORT VILA, Vanuatu -- Relief workers saw a flattened landscape and widespread destruction in their first views of Vanuatu's outer islands Tuesday after struggling for days to assess the areas of the South Pacific nation hardest hit by a fierce cyclone.

Radio and telephone communications with the outer islands were just beginning to be restored, but remained incredibly patchy three days after Cyclone Pam hit. People were expressing their need for help any way they could: flashing mirrors or marking an "H'' in white on the ground to signal planes that were surveying the outer islands.

Samuel, only his first name given, carries a ball through the ruins of their family home as his father, Phillip, at back, picks through the debris in Port Vila, Vanuatu in the aftermath of Cyclone Pam Monday, March 16, 2015.

AP / Dave Hunt, Pool

Australian military planes that conducted aerial assessments found significant damage, particularly on Tanna Island, where more than 80 percent of homes and other buildings appeared to be partially or completely destroyed, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said.

"We understand that the reconnaissance imagery shows widespread devastation," Bishop said. "Not only buildings flattened - palm plantations, trees. It's quite a devastating sight."

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The monstrous cyclone tore through the tiny South Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu packing winds of 168 miles per hour and leaving a trail of destr...

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"Devastating": Cyclone flattened landscape in Vanuatu's outer islands