They are among thousands who have set up camp inland - either unable to go back home or too afraid.
Scattered in makeshift settlements along remote gravel roads, most are too scared to rebuild at sea level, or even seek medical treatment for colds, cuts and bruises.
Instead, the homeless wait and leave wounds untreated, putting them at risk of infection, or even fatal blood poisoning.
New Zealand defence force personnel are taking medicine, food and shelter into the hills amid fears of a growing crisis of disease in the aftermath of last Wednesday's earthquake and the devastating tsunami that followed it.
Kilisi Tuiuli and 48 others from his tiny village Utufaalafa survive in their rough camp, elevated in the bushy hills.
Mr Tuiuli's relatives, and five other families living in one of the set-ups, have only two pots to cook the limited rice and fish they have, and hardly any dishes to share around hungry mouths.
A stove has been made on the grass and a fire started in it by rubbing rocks together.
A small boy comes back to the camp carrying a pile of wood, bigger than him, that he has chopped for the fire.
Aid agencies have dropped off a portable toilet - about 1km further down the road.
It is more than 3km to the coast, and the men walk back and forth bringing supplies and looking through the rubble of their former homes to try salvaging anything useful.
The people are still wearing the clothes they had on when they ran from the tsunami or donated clothes dropped off at the local Mormon church.
Mr Tuiuli, who lives in Wanganui with his Kiwi wife and four children, came home about a month ago to attend his father's funeral and help his mother, who has 10 children ranging in age from 7 to 32 - eight of them still living at home - while she was grieving.
Mr Tuiuli's mother, Elisa Tuiuli (51), was in bed with the flu when the earthquake struck, but jumped out of bed, grabbed her children, and ran for higher ground, fearing a tsunami would follow.
However, at least eight of her family members, including a family of five - Kelaise Kalasine, her husband Sio Pati, and their three young children - did not flee the coast quickly enough and perished in the tsunami's terrible violence.
Mr Tuiuli's wife, Michelle Apatu, will arrive in Samoa soon with their children, bringing a three-bedroom tent and possibly other supplies.
Mr Tuiuli's house survived the tsunami, but he said they probably would not return for at least two months while bodies were being pulled from wreckage in the aftermath.
Some villagers in the camp will never return to their land on the waterfront as they are too afraid another tsunami will hit.
More than 20 New Zealand Army engineers and medics are camped in Lalomanu, the hardest-hit resort, where the Royal New Zealand Air Force is dropping vital supplies by helicopter to the Red Cross aid station at the hospital there.
Locals from the nearby villages of Saleapaga and Lepa have also fled to the high grounds where they have already begun building new homes in bush clearings.
Three Defence Force teams were sent from Lalomanu base yesterday to distribute aid to the displaced islanders and support Australian medical crews working in the area.
As soon as other areas in need of urgent aid are identified, the New Zealand medics will head out by themselves.
Although the wait was frustrating, Lieutenant Neil Corlett expected New Zealand crews would start administering medical treatment today.
Lt Corlett was busy yesterday distributing food, water, shelter and other medical supplies with local doctor, Esmay Ah Leong Seuala, and the Australian medics, led by Dr Michael Novy.
Many people suffering from chronic illnesses, like diabetes, had their medicine washed away.
Infections from untreated wounds were common and were life-threatening, Dr Novy said.
"People are so busy trying to rebuild their lives, and getting on with it, they're ignoring their own health," he said.
