Irma wreaks 'total carnage' on Barbuda: PM

The Caribbean island of Barbuda is a scene of "total carnage" after the passage of Hurricane Irma and the tiny two-island nation will be seeking assistance from the international community to rebuild, its prime minister says.

Gaston Browne, prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, told the BBC on Thursday that about half Barbuda's population of 1800 were homeless while nine out of 10 buildings had suffered some level of devastation, many of them total destruction.

"We flew into Barbuda only to see total carnage. It was easily one of the most emotionally painful experiences that I have had," Browne said in an interview on BBC Radio Four.

"Approximately 50 per cent of them (residents of Barbuda) are literally homeless at this time. They are bunking together, we are trying to get ... relief supplies to them first thing tomorrow morning," he said, adding it would take months or years to restore some level of normalcy to the island.