The Government has opened up an emergency fund of $50,000 and sent an Air Force surveillance plane to Fiji to assess the damage caused by Tropical Cyclone Winston.

Foreign Minister Murray McCully said the Orion left from Whenuapai today to help Fiji's authorities carry out aerial surveillance and damage assessment.

He said the cyclone appeared to have caused major damage on the northern coast of Viti Levu, and one person is confirmed dead.

The Government has also made an initial sum of $50,000 available immediately through the High Commission in Fiji for a response to any urgent requests from the Fiji Government.

It also authorised the release of up to $170,000 in relief supplies held on the island by groups such as UNICEF and Rotary.

Further help would be decided in coming days once the scale of the support needed was known.

McCully was in Fiji last week for meetings with Fiji's Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama, including talks on how the countries could work together in the case of natural disasters in the Pacific.

Meanwhile, Vodafone will allow customers to make calls and texts to Fiji on credit, to allow people to contact family, friends and business contacts affected by Tropical Cyclone Winston.

The credit will apply to calls and texts made from New Zealand landline or mobile phones, to Fiji from 9am yesterday to midnight Tuesday.

Vodafone New Zealand consumer director Matt Williams said fees will be automatically added to a customer's account on the next billing cycle.

He said Vodafone will also be sending engineers to repair Fiji's network infrastructure.