Natural disasters news alerts

Traumatised survivors of the massive landslide estimated to have buried hundreds in Papua New Guinea have been slow to move to safer ground.

Authorities fear a second landslide and a disease outbreak are looming at the scene of Papua New Guinea's mass-casualty disaster because of water streams and bodies trapped beneath debris.

Australia will send at least $2.5 million in humanitarian aid to help its closest neighbour after the government in Port Moresby issued an open call for help.

Two skiers have been killed following an avalanche in the mountains in the US state of Utah that occurred after several days of spring snowstorms

As rivers swell across South Texas, leaving homes and businesses flooded and thousands of people displaced, residents have been looking skyward as more rain looms.

Infuriating stories of disputes with insurers have emerged at an inquiry into the response to south-east Queensland's February 2022 floods.

Two New Zealanders have died in an avalanche in Mt Yotei, Japan.

The sinkhole opened near a major construction site in Sydney's south.

Evacuations have been ordered and thousands of people were left without power and hot water.

An earthquake has struck Victoria, shaking thousands of people in the middle of the night from Melbourne down to Gippsland.

Tremors were felt as far away as the neighbouring countries Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.

Rescue efforts were underway to find victims buried in 18 separate houses.

A volcano on the peninsula erupted for the second time in less than a month, sending molten lava into houses.

Residents have undergone respiratory checks after the eruption in West Sumatra.

The eruption propelled molten lava into a nearby town and setting houses ablaze.

Some regional towns received three months of rain in a day, resulting in forced evacuations and dozens of homes lost.

The woman survived for more than five days after the 7.6 magnitude quake.

The damage was so great that it could not immediately be assessed. Japanese media reports said tens of thousands of homes were destroyed.

A large recovery effort is under way across Queensland's far north, with dozens of communities left isolated just days out from Christmas.

Tourism operators and flood-hit Far North Queenslanders are calling on airlines to give them a fair go after one couple was hit with hundreds of dollars in fees.

There was no threat of tsunamis after the 7.1 quake shook the Pacific island nation, authorities said.

There are roughly 45 volcanoes in a continuing state of eruption around the world, according to the latest data. Another 1400 are considered 'active'.

Authorities have identified those missing or killed in a southeast Alaska landslide this week as five family members and their neighbor.

Communities in Somalia say they have nowhere to hide from intense flooding that has already killed at least 96 people.

A moderate earthquake has shaken eastern Myanmar and been felt in a popular tourist destination in Thailand.

Aftershocks are expected for months after a magnitude 5.0 earthquake.

Some of the world's biggest polluters have been deliberately left off the speaking list at a major summit.

Reports of similar unexplained bursts of bright, dancing lights go back centuries to ancient Greece.

The death toll from flooding that hit the eastern Libyan city of Derna has reached more than 5000 and was expected to rise further, a local health official said.

Over 12 years since Japan's deadliest earthquake, that killed 22,000 and triggering a catastrophic nuclear disaster, the 1.3 million tonnes of stored radioactive wastewater has been deemed safe to release.

It's something Sydneysiders have rarely experienced, but residents in the city's south west were shaken by a small earthquake.

Although rare, "earthquakes can occur anywhere in Australia," a senior seismologist has warned. So how strong could one get?

Three new victims have been unearthed - almost 2000 years after a catastrophic eruption buried the town, killing thousands.

People in Melbourne are being warned this morning of the risk of aftershocks after the city was struck by its strongest earthquake in 120 years overnight.

Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano rumbled to life again this week, belching out towering clouds of ash that forced 11 villages to cancel school sessions.

At least nine people have been killed by heavy flooding and mudslides in the northern Italian region of Emilia Romagna, and as many as 20,000 residents are being forced to evacuate.

Newly-discovered human remains have provided new insights into the devastating impact of Mount Vesuvius in the first century.

Cyclone Mocha has collapsed houses, felled trees and severely compromising communication lines in the conflict-racked state of Rakhine.

A tropical cyclone is strengthening in the Bay of Bengal and is on course to hit western Myanmar and Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar, the world's largest refugee camp.

Authorities in the central African nation are preparing to recover more bodies.

Geoscience Australia reported the earthquake struck at a depth of 604km south of the Fiji Islands just before 1.30pm.

New Zealand's North Island has been rocked by a number of strong consecutive earthquakes this morning, just hours after 7.2 magnitude quake shook the same region yesterday.

The category 5 storm delivered the strongest wind gusts ever recorded in Australia and a hefty damage bill in its wake but there could be more yet to come as threat remains.

Arnold Carter has lived in Port Hedland for 63 years, where he worked as an accountant in the iron ore industry.

Video shows the moment a wall of snow and ice broke free from the mountain and tore down the steep slopes. 

A seaside boom town in New Zealand known as a haven for retirees, holidaymakers and day trippers would be a "death trap" in the event of a tsunami, residents say.

A second sinkhole has opened in a Newcastle suburb just three days after the first forced residents out of their homes.

The twister flattened entire blocks, obliterated houses, ripped a steeple off a church and toppled a municipal water tower.

Humanity still has a chance, close to the last one, to prevent the worst of climate change's future harms, a top United Nations panel of scientists says.