It has been eight days since a violent volcanic eruption and tsunami hit the island nation and relief supplies have begun to trickle in, but there are still reports of widespread shortages of freshwater and food as well as communications blackouts in parts of the country.
At the weekend the Tongan government said 85 percent of its population had been affected by the disaster.
The Aotearoa Tonga Relief Committee is trying to work out how to get donations of essential supplies to Tonga Auckland, and has made an appeal for more containers.
Local MP and group co-chair Jenny Salesa said she spoke with Tongan Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni yesterday, saying "there's so much that Tongan's need".
Sovaleni told her gardening tools and supplies were top of the list of items needed to keep people fed and make a recovery.
"They expect a lot of the gardens [with food in] now are probably not going to last very long because of that ash that is on top of everything," so a big effort would be needed to replant, she said.
Many of the country's boats were destroyed by the tsunami inundation, and Sovaleni had also asked for boats and outboard motors.
Breakfast food for children was another request, and Salesa said a $50,000 donation from Foodstuffs NZ will be used towards that.
The group has held a donation drive at Mount Smart stadium in recent days, and said many Tongan New Zealanders have donated, and they now have enough to fill 25 containers.
The group has appealed for more containers, to send the goods in. Matson Shipping has donated 15 containers - but they hope more will be donated, and more containers can be filled in other regions outside Auckland.
Meanwhile the New Zealand navy's largest ship, the HMNZS Aotearoa, arrived in the capital Nuku'alofa last week to help, and has been desalinating water for drinking.
The ship's commanding officer Captain Simon Griffiths said clean drinking water was still a problem right across Tonga, and their new supplies were being distributed widely, with the Tongan navy taking it to islands to the north. ■