A powerful earthquake struck a border area of southeast Iran Tuesday killing at least 35 people in neighbouring Pakistan, destroying hundreds of houses and shaking buildings as far away as India and Gulf Arab states.

Communications with the sparsely-populated desert and mountain region were largely cut off, making it difficult to assess Iranian casualties. But an Iranian provincial governor later said there were no reports of deaths there so far.

A 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck eastern Indonesia's mountainous West Papua province on Saturday but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

Natural and man-made disasters caused $186 billion (152 billion euros) in damages worldwide last year, according to a calculation released on Wednesday by the Swiss re-insurance group Swiss Re.

The country received some ¥164 billion in disaster aid from abroad in the first year after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, a think tank survey showed.

Two 1.5-metre-high waves damage property and leave several people missing, presumed dead

Japan's new government said on Friday it hoped to stick to a three year deadline to decide whether to restart all nuclear reactors after safety checks, despite the country's newly formed nuclear re

A strong 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of central Indonesia today, the US Geological Survey said, sending panicked people rushing into the streets but there was no tsunami alert.

A major 7.1-magnitude earthquake shook eastern Indonesia’s Maluku islands on Monday but there was no tsunami alert, the US Geological Survey said.