The World Bank says it will provide Samoa with an extra USD $20 million to help it recover from Cyclone Evan.

Evan struck in December 2012 and killed five people, displaced about 4000 and damaged or destroyed hundreds of houses.

The cyclone also damaged transport infrastructure, energy plants, tourism facilities and crops.

The World Bank's Franz Drees-Grosse told Radio Australia a damage assessment they did in conjunction with Samoa's government in January showed the economic impact of the disaster was enormous.

An Australian nongovernment organisation that sends aid to the Pacific is surprised its appeal for aid to help cyclone victims in Fiji and Samoa isn't going as well as expected.

Listen: Aid NGO unsure why cyclone appeal is going so slowly (Credit: ABC)

Updated 4 January 2013, 15:16 AEST

Samoan farmers are being urged to replant fallen fruit trees rather than simply cut them up for firewood.

The NGO Women in Business is offering advice on the best way to save tree cuttings from plants blown down in Cyclone Evan.

But they're warning that the cuttings need to be replanted within the next couple of weeks, before the plants die.

Pule Toleafoa, project officer with Women in Business, explains that Samoa needs to get its food trees back up as soon as possible, to avoid food shortages.

There are hopes many of Fiji's cyclone evacuees will be home by Christmas, with 8,000 leaving emergency shelters over the past few days.

The United Nations says it's hoped many of the cyclone evacuees being housed in emergency shelters in Fiji will be home in time for Christmas.

The UN's representative for the co-ordination of humanitarian affairs, Peter Muller, says 8,000 have returned home over the past few days.

A further 5,000 people are still waiting for their homes to be repaired before they can leave.

Updated 21 December 2012, 9:39 AEST

The United Nations Children's Fund has begun helping the children in need in cyclone-affected Fiji and Samoa.

UNICEF says one of the immediate challenges is to ensure there are no outbreaks of disease as a result of contaminated water.

The organisation says it will supply 5,000 doses of tetanus vaccine for Samoa.

It will also provide tens of thousands of sachets of oral rehydration salts to both countries.

UNICEF's representative Dr Isiye Ndombi is in Fiji and says there are several priorities - and challenges.

Concerns have been raised that Pacific Islanders could be in danger because they don't understand official cyclone warnings.

Listen: Confusion over language of cyclone warnings (Credit: ABC)

Official warnings usually contain a lot of technical information about hectopascals and latitudes and longitudes rather than plain language.

Officials in Fiji are starting to assess the damage after Cyclone Evan hit the Pacific island nation, causing major flooding and packing destructive 270 kilometre-per-hour winds.

More than 3,500 people spent the night in emergency shelters in Fiji as the biggest cyclone in 20 years swept past the island nation.

Some parts of Fiji recorded up to 200mm of rain in a 24-hour period as the category four storm passed to the north-western side of the main Fijian islands of Vanua Levu and Viti Levu.

Updated 17 December 2012, 18:13 AEST

In Samoa a preliminary estimate has put the damages bill from Cyclone Evan at $300-million.

A State iof Emergency has replaced the initial State of Disaster declared when the cylone devasted the capital Apia and much of the main island of Upolu last Thursday.

Electricity has now been restored to the main commercial sector of Apia, a move that Taulealeausumai Laavasa Malua, the head of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, has told Brian Abbott will assist in the long recovery process.

Updated 14 December 2012, 11:54 AEST

The UN Emergency Assistance Office is getting some information out of Samoa.

Greg Grimsich from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says international aid groups are on standby to help if required.

Presenter: Geraldine Coutts

Speaker: Greg Grimsich, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Fiji

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