'Should be all good': Teen not heard from since Vanuatu cyclone

Zoe Marshall, one of the eight Australian volunteer teachers missing in Vanuatu five days after Cyclone Pam, sent a text message to her mother as she hunkered down ahead of the storm.

"Sorry for early text but don't know when phone will work. We've got a cat 5 warning, should hit us tonight," the 18-year-old from Canberra texted.

"Should be all good. I love you more than most things."

Zoe's mother, Alison Abernethy, told The Sydney Morning Herald she chooses to believe her daughter is safe and helping villagers clear the cyclone damage on Pentecost Island, where she had been staying.

She said the island had intermittent reception and no internet connection prior to the storm and was now completely cut off.

Zoe's family had been hearing from her nearly every day prior to the storm.

Ms Abernethy said the silence had been "dreadful, really, really horrible".

An RAAF reconnaissance flight has given the family hope after showing the damage to Pentecost Island was not as bad as other parts of Vanuatu.

Zoe had been volunteering as a teacher with international youth development charity Lattitude Global Volunteering, which said in a statement it was working with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and local authorities on the ground to try to find its missing volunteers.

A DFAT spokesperson said locating the missing group remained its top priority.