Heart-breaking images of cyclone devastation in the Pacific must prompt Australia and other countries to act on climate change, a United Nations representative says.
Super Cyclone Pam has left a trail of destruction across the Pacific nations of Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Kiribati and the Solomon Islands.
Harrowing stories are emerging from Vanuatu, which was hardest hit and where an estimated up to 70 per cent of the country's population may have been displaced.
At least 24 people are dead, including a mother and her teenage son who were hit by flying sheets of tin roofing. The toll is expected to climb significantly as help reaches remote outer islands where entire villages appear to have been wiped out.
The head of the UN's Development Program in Fiji, who has responsibility for the four countries affected by Cyclone Pam, says the latest disaster to hit the Pacific must result in a binding deal on greenhouse gas emissions.
"The situation in the Pacific is the most illustrative example where you really see the tangible impacts of climate change. It's really quite devastating," Osnat Lubrani told AAP on Tuesday.
"The frequency and the level of the natural diasters is becoming more extreme, and experts are making that link to climate change.
"This is a very important year with our hope that a binding agreement on climate change will be reached by all UN member states. And of course it is our hope that Australia will reflect and be able to be supportive of this important goal."
Ms Lubrani said there was no doubt those negotiations were going to be difficult.
"But I really hope the visuals of what's happening right now in the Pacific might sway minds and hearts into reaching a binding agreement."
Vanuatu's President Baldwin Lonsdale has said climate change was a key factor in the scale of devastation caused by Pam.
Earlier this month a report by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction said economic losses from disasters around the world total an average of $A329.8 billion to $A392.5 billion annually.
And UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned of a looming tipping point where natural disasters, fuelled by climate change, will become so fierce and frequent the world will not be able to adequately respond.
Ms Lubrani will head to Vanuatu on Wednesday, where she'll inspect the work being done by a UN team which is assessing damage, getting communication links up and directing relief efforts.
She said another UN assessment team was also headed to hard-hit island nation of Tuvalu, where there's been extreme damage on outer islands and a state of emergency is in place.
Assessments are also going on in the nation of Kiribati, which has suffered serious damage from cyclone-related flooding.
There's been flooding too in the Solomon Islands, but at this stage the government has yet to declare a national disaster.
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