Transcript
Ambae's more than 10,000 residents were evacuated in late September, when the volcano at the island's centre blanketed the island in ash.
But with the volcano settling down, the decision was made last week to return the residents to their home island.
However, the Red Cross's Dickinson Tevi says the crisis is far from over, with food and water in short supply.
"The vegetation is really badly damaged and the water is definitely thick with the volcanic ash. Unless there's a big heavy rain, the situation is not very good."
Mr Tevi, who was on Ambae a few days ago, says the southern and western parts of the island are the worst affected.
Ambae was already in the grips of drought before the eruption, and Mr Tevi says whatever water is left has been contaminated by ash.
He adds that crops that were already struggling have been smothered, and livestock that was left to roam when the island was evacuated has disappeared.
Mr Tevi says islanders continue to rely on relief supplies.
Provincial authorities are considering a range of measures - including further, albeit smaller, evacuations.
"From a report from the disaster coordinator on South Ambae, it is actually really worse there so they might actually be relocated to areas of the east. That is not a plan that is happening yet, but that is what he saw as a possibility."
The head of the national disaster management office, Shadrack Welegtabit, stresses another evacuation would be an absolute last resort, and the government continues to deploy food and water supplies.
He says the residents could be reliant on relief supplies for a couple of months yet, until the start of the rainy season.
"We continue to provide people with food and water until such time when the situation comes to normal again. We're hoping that as of today, the beginning of the wet season, hopefully we'll have some rain to address the issue of water security on the island."
Despite the struggles, Dickinson Tevi says the decision to return the people of Ambae to their homes from the evacuation centres - where they were reliant on relief supplies anyway - was the right one.
Meanwhile, Shadrack Welegtabit says his office is carrying out a review into how the evacuation of Ambae was handled, and what lessons can be learnt.
