It was the first time in 40 years Andrew Welch had not been home for Christmas, his brother Jeremy recalls.

"I had never seen in my life so much destruction and death on such a massive scale. I remember going to a place called Lambaro, just outside Banda Aceh...

Mike Bush was in Bangkok when the Boxing Day earthquake struck and even though he was 1250km from the epicentre, he felt it.

It was Christmas Day and life seemed perfect for Petra Nemcova. The Czech model had already graced the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine...

The US Pacific coast's most ferocious storm in years has moved south, bringing hurricane force winds and heavy downpours to southern California one day after claiming two lives in the Northwest.

A powerful typhoon destroyed homes and flooded low-lying coastal villages in the Philippines, forcing a million people to flee to safety and reportedly leaving at least three dead.

When Dr Noel Trustrum landed in the Indonesian province of Aceh in January 2005, the Kiwi scientist struggled to comprehend what he saw around him.

A year ago, Typhoon Haiyan created a series of storm surges that left several thousand people dead and around four million homeless.

The most powerful earthquake to strike California for 25 years has heightened fears that the state may soon face a "mega-quake" with a strength exceeding 7.5.

Senior firefighter Terry Gyde tunnelled his way into the twisted steel and concrete of two collapsed buildings in the aftermath of the February 22, 2011 earthquake.

A tropical storm was moving out into the Sea of Japan last night after lashing the country with rain and winds, leaving one person dead and more than 50 injured.

Tropical Storm Iselle brought big surf, strong winds and heavy rain to Hawaii last night, but the severe weather did not disrupt Air New Zealand flights.

Lindsay Jones has no desire to knock down his 129-year-old church at the top of Queen St. But as things stand, the senior pastor and his congregation can't afford to keep it open either.

A billion-dollar earthquake upgrade affecting about one in 10 commercial and multi-storey apartment buildings is set for a major overhaul.

As Hurricane Iselle approached Hawaii last night, Kiwi holidaymakers were bracing themselves for a potential stranding on the tropical islands.

Editorial: Four times in a month heavy rain has turned the Flockton Basin in Christchurch into a lake - and the country watches in disbelief that nothing's being done.

Another strong aftershock has rattled Solomon Islands early this morning, following yesterday's 7.6 quake that's compounded flood misery in the country.

More than 50,000 people have been affected by the flash floods that have devastated the capital and a number of provinces of the Solomon Islands.

The condition of about 12,000 people crammed into Solomon Islands evacuation centres is of grave concern, says a Unicef sanitation specialist.

Auckland is a long way from high earthquake activity and can expect a major shake every 10,000 to 20,000 years, says a new study.

New Zealander Rachel Lilburn has felt earthquakes in Chile before but said yesterday's big one was much stronger than any others.

NZ is unprepared for sea level rises that could turn 1-in-100 year flooding events into annual occurrences, a blockbuster report on climate change has revealed.

Firefighters, police officers, Urban Search and Rescue experts, and courageous passersby risked life and limb to drag several survivors from the CTV Building.

Highway 530 once led drivers on a winding route along tree-lined valleys between the Pacific Ocean and the snow-capped Cascade Mountains.