'It will be nice to have an apology.' Police are to compensate pensioner John Bennett for the way he was roughed up by armed officers in his own home two years ago.

Flooding has forced thousands to evacuate Indonesia's capital city once again, as monsoon rains wreaked havoc on Jakarta.

Hundreds of quake damage claims have been lodged as a result of the severe magnitude 6.2 tremor that damaged homes and cut power.

Damage claims from yesterday's 6.2 quake are starting to be lodged with EQC, as more than 300 aftershocks hit the lower North Island - and a couple of biggies are expected.

Yesterday's 6.2 magnitude earthquake caused an agricultural chemical spill on a Palmerston North farm, resulting in one man being sent to hospital.

Tropical Cyclone Ian has cleared Tonga leaving in its wake the death of at least one person and the destruction of infrastructure.

At least one person has been killed in a cyclone that has ravaged parts of Tonga, as organisations rushed to get supplies to thousands of people affected.

At first it's hard to comprehend exactly what it is we're looking at.

The Human Rights Commission has called for the Government to consider rent-control measures following major natural disasters.

Plastered across posters and T-shirts, inspiring a play, and named by a popular blog site as word of the year, "munted" became the catch-cry amid Christchurch's post-quake devastation.

In seaside Minami Sanriku, residents have been arguing over what to do with the ruined red steel structure in the centre of town.

The Japan tsunami reinforced important messages for New Zealanders, writes John Hamilton. If a tsunami was generated far from the coast the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management would issue an official warning.

In downtown Tokyo, state broadcaster NHK was airing the dull debates of a Parliament night sitting when all hell broke loose.

Pride and patriotism hasn't succumbed here, even in the face of lost lives and livelihoods, and the daily battle to get things back to the way they were before October 29, 2012.

May 12, 2013, marked the fifth anniversary of the Wenchuan earthquake in the Sichuan Province of China.

'It's important to remind people how fragile life is," says the keeper of a food stall a few metres from the ghostly ruins of Xuankou Middle School.

One of the world's leading earthquake scientists has called on New Zealand to adopt cutting-edge technology that could give people as much as 25 seconds' warning.

A Trade Me bidding war has started over an orange capsicum with a green stalk shaped like the head of a dragon - with bids already topping $200.

Sara Thomson's first trip to the hairdresser was for a good cause - the salon is donating its day's takings to the victims of the Philippines typhoon.

An Auckland family waiting to hear news of their elderly mother - who was missing after the deadly typhoon in the Philippines - is overjoyed to hear she has been found alive.

Since the typhoon hit, Danny Estember has been hiking for three hours on the round-trip into the mountains each day to obtain what he can only hope is clean water for his five daughters and two sons.