The United Nations has released confronting before and after pictures revealing the scale of destruction in Tonga.
The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano erupted on Saturday, leaving the island nation blanketed with ash and without power, with communications infrastructure significantly impacted.
A tsunami triggered by the blast ripped across Tonga's islands, causing widespread damage. Now the UN has released satellite images showing the devastation to the Pacific nation.
The photos show the uninhabited volcanic island of Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai has all but disappeared following the blast.
The Fafaa village in the Kolofo'ou district off the main island of Nuku'alofa is now covered in ash. Buildings blend into the landscape and there is evidence of water damage.
Along the shoreline of Nuku'alofa in the Kolomotu'a village, structures have been affected.
In the west of the capital at the Fefe Ho Loto Golden Sands, the beach has been left devastated while the road and structures behind have been washed away.
The runway at Fuaʻamotu International Airport - the main airport in Tonga - has been damaged while a road leading to the runway has been destroyed.
The satellite images for the coastal areas of Uoleva and Nomuka off the main island of Nuku'alofa show water invasion, roads and buildings damaged, shorelines affected and villages covered in ash.
The coastal island of Uiha has experienced less destruction with some water invasion and buildings damaged.
Copernicus EU - the European Union earth observation programme - also released satellite images that show Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai has virtually disappeared after the eruption.
The before and after images show how the island was destroyed by the underwater blast.
The confronting photos come after a British woman, Angela Glover, was confirmed as the first death caused by the eruption on Tuesday. She was swept away by the surging swell when she was trying to save her dogs from the waves and lost grip of a tree she was holding.
The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) P-3K2 Orion aircraft departed Auckland's Whenuapai airbase on Monday morning on a reconnaissance flight to assist in an initial impact assessment of the area and low-lying islands.
The plane was scheduled to fly over the Ha'apai group of islands and then over Tongatapu to check the status of the runway and port.
The aircraft was not scheduled to land in Tonga and planned to return to the RNZAF base on Monday evening.
