Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said on Friday that her government planned reforestation to solve Thailand's flooding problems on a sustainable basis, Thai News Agency (TNA) reported.

A 5.8-magnitude earthquake struck Irian Jaya in Indonesia at 1.34 pm today, the Malaysian Meteorological Department said.

Northern Japan was bracing for more heavy snow Friday as severe winter weather continues to cause misery across a large part of the country, claiming at least 83 lives so far.

An office block that collapsed, killing 115 people, including 65 foreign students, in last year's Christchurch earthquake did not meet building standards, an official report found Thursday.

Fifty disasters hit Indonesia in January, with most of it being hydro-meteorological disasters, leaving 41 people dead or missing.

Survivors of a deadly quake in the Philippines begged rescuers Wednesday to keep searching for dozens of people buried in landslides, but officials said hopes of finding them alive were dim.

Thousands of soldiers in the quake-hit Philippines Tuesday scoured villages buried under landslides, but authorities said hopes of finding dozens of missing people alive were dim.

Rescuers in the Philippines dug through rubble with shovels and their bare hands Tuesday after a powerful earthquake triggered landslides, collapsed homes and killed dozens of people.

Fears eased Tuesday that a swollen river would breach its banks in the Australian state of Queensland as residents in other areas began a huge clean-up after floods wrecked havoc.

A 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of the central Philippines on Monday, killing at least seven people and causing widespread panic in cities where buildings shook violently.