Transcript
In Ambae's north, an Anglican priest, William Bice, says his village has been blanketed in a layer of ash some 20 to 30 centimetres thick.
The weight of it has collapsed some roofs, plant life has been smothered, and the stream where people get their water has turned into a thick ash-laden sludge.
As food supplies dwindle and disease starts to spread, Father Bice says the situation is becoming desperate.
"In my opinion I think if we live from now up until next week without any assistance from the government I think a lot of people will starve and a lot of people will die because of no food. At the moment we have an outbreak of flu and sore throat because of the smell of the volcano."
In the northeast, the 383 students at St Patrick's College were ordered home last Friday, when the school made the decision to cancel exams.
Its principal, Kathleen Tahi, says has swept into the valley where her school sits, invading every building and making breathing a battle.
"All the classrooms have been filled with ash, all buildings around the college have been filled with ash and students walk around with cloths over their noses and mouths to block the ash from getting into their noses and mouth. We're really worried."
She says students had little to eat or drink.
"Our water tanks are all contaminated. Food, the students we had no vegetables, nothing to eat, and the students just ate noodles."
Ambae's 11,000 people were evacuated off the island at the end of the last year when the volcano at its centre, Manaro Voui, erupted.
They returned little over a month later, but in March the volcano stirred once more, again blanketing the island in ash and acid rain.
But this time, the government appears in less of a rush to get them off.
The National Disaster Management Office says they're working through phases, starting with moving people to the east, and then deciding whether to go further from there.
The head of UNICEF in Vanuatu, Andrew Parker, says 750 people have already been moved across the island.
"The government does not wish to get into an endless evacuation and repatriation circuit and hence is looking at the reality that Ambae's volcanoes are not likely to become totally dormant again in the short term."
A disaster office spokesperson, Presley Tari, says a patrol boat full of paramilitary personnel arrived on Ambae on Wednesday, and are now going village-to-village carrying out assessments and helping people move.
Amid signs the volcanic activity may be starting to ease, Mr Tari says officials will wait until they've carried out assessments for four days before a decision on whether to flee the island again will be made.
"They already arrived there around yesterday at 10 o'clock and they're all set up. Today is the first day of their assessment - they're going to be four days. After this they'll come up with a report for the on-island relocation and then our next step is the off-island relocation. So that's where we're going to make another decision whether we're still going off-island or not."
Mr Tari says provincial officials are talking with chiefs on nearby Maewo and Pentecost, while a reconciliation ceremony is due to be held on Santo after some landowners were rankled with how last year's evacuation was handled.
But if talks and plans are underway, then that's news to William Bice on north Ambae.
He says the government response has not been good enough, with villagers waiting in limbo to hear when - and where - they will go.
"People keep coming, they say they have no food and they say that in a couple of days there will be no food for them. While the provincial government gave us a little rice, try imagine the whole of Ambae being affected with no food at the moment. If the provincial government stays silent, people will die. I think the government should do something very quick to save peoples lives."
That's a sentiment also shared by Kathleen Tahi, who says she's yet to hear anything, too.
