Simon Baker / Reuters

Members of the public look on during a memorial service in Christchurch, New Zealand on Feb. 22, 2012, to mark the anniversary of the earthquake which killed 185 people.

Greg Bowker / New Zealand Herald via AP

Two women embrace as people gather at Hagley Park in Christchurch for the memorial service.

The Associated Press reports from WELLINGTON, New Zealand — More than 10,000 New Zealanders stood in silence, some in tears, at a Christchurch park Wednesday while police officers and firefighters read out the names of all 185 people who died in a devastating earthquake one year ago.

• Slideshow: Quake rocks New Zealand city

The reading was followed by two minutes of silence at 12:51 p.m., the minute the magnitude-6.1 quake struck. It destroyed thousands of homes and much of downtown Christchurch, causing 30 billion dollars ($25 billion) in damage by the government's estimate.

• 'Then and now' photos show progress in earthquake cleanup

Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker told the crowd that the city would never be the same again. He said people disagree about how the city should be rebuilt, but that one day it will again be a great place to live and work. Read the full story.

Martin Hunter / Getty Images

A boy carries a bear as families arrive at Latimer Square ahead of the anniversary memorial.

Martin Hunter / Getty Images

In this composite image (top) earthquake damage is seen at the Christchurch Cathedral Citizens War Memorial, seven months after the Christchurch earthquake, on Sept. 28, 2011 and (bottom) the same location as seen ahead of the one year Christchurch earthquake anniversary on Feb. 21, 2012 in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Martin Hunter / Getty Images

In this composite image (top) rescuers search for survivors in a collapsed building in Manchester Street on Feb. 22, 2011and (bottom) the same location as seen ahead of the one year Christchurch earthquake anniversary on Feb. 21, 2012 in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Martin Hunter / Getty Images

In this composite image (top) collapsed buildings in Manchester Street on Feb. 22, 2011 and (bottom) the same location as seen ahead of the one year Christchurch earthquake anniversary on Feb. 21, 2012 in Christchurch, New Zealand.

AP reports: More than 10,000 New Zealanders stood in silence, some in tears, at a Christchurch park Wednesday while police officers and firefighters read out the names of all 185 people who died in a devastating earthquake one year ago.

The reading was followed by two minutes of silence at 12:51 p.m., the minute the magnitude-6.1 quake struck. It destroyed thousands of homes and much of downtown Christchurch, causing 30 billion dollars ($25 billion) in damage by the government's estimate.

Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker told the crowd at the park that the city would never be the same again. He said people disagree about how the city should be rebuilt, but that one day it will again be a great place to live and work.

Related stories:

• Other PhotoBlog posts from Christchurch

Brad Hunter / Pool via AFP - Getty Images

An aerial photo shows an extensively flooded area in the New South Wales town of Moree on Feb. 3, 2012. More than 10,000 Australians were stranded by flooding in the country's east, with thousands ordered to leave their homes or businesses and the military called in to airlift supplies.

Wolter Peeters / EPA

Floodwaters inundate property in Moree on Feb. 3, 2012. The Mehi river near the town is expected to swell up to levels not seen since 1976.

Brad Hunter / Pool via Reuters

Floodwaters are seen near the town of Moree on Feb. 3, 2012.

Military helicopters evacuated stranded residents from Australian towns inundated by summer floods on Friday, Reuters reports, and authorities warned of further flash flooding.

More than 11,000 people in Queensland state have been isolated by the flooding and thousands had been evacuated, emergency services authorities said.

The town of Moree, the centre of the region's cotton growing, has been cut in half by record floodwaters, while authorities are using helicopters to relocate 300 people already at an evacuation center in the outback town of Roma to higher ground. Read the full story.

Aaron Favila / AP

Philippine Navy personnel arrange coffins that will be shipped with drinking water, clothes and other relief goods to flood-stricken Cagayan De Oro and Iligan cities on board a navy ship in Manila, Philippines on Dec. 20, 2011.

Rolex Dela Pena / EPA

Philippine Navy personnel carry donated caskets to be transported by a Navy ship to flood affected provinces from military headquarters in Manila on Dec. 20, 2011.

Erik De Castro / Reuters

Unidentified typhoon victims, inside coffins and body bags, lie near a road awaiting identification by their relatives near Iligan city on Dec. 20, 2011.

The Associated Press reports from ILIGAN, Philippines:

The government shipped more than 400 coffins to two flood-stricken cities in the southern Philippines on Tuesday as the death toll neared 1,000 and President Benigno Aquino III declared a state of national calamity.

The latest count listed 957 dead and 49 missing and is expected to climb further as additional bodies are recovered from the sea and mud in Iligan and Cagayan de Oro cities.

A handful of morgues are overwhelmed and running out of coffins and formaldehyde for embalming. Aid workers appealed for bottled water, blankets, tents and clothes for many of 45,000 in crowded evacuation centers.

Navy sailors in Manila loaded a ship with 437 white wooden coffins to help local authorities handle the staggering number of dead. Also on the way were containers with thousands of water bottles.

Most of the dead were women and children who drowned Friday night when flash floods triggered by a tropical storm gushed into homes while people were asleep. Continue reading.

Related content:

• PhotoBlog: Philippines counts the cost of Typhoon Washi
• Slideshow: Typhoon strikes the Philippines

Richel Umel / Reuters

An aerial view shows damage caused by floods following Typhoon Washi in Iligan City, in the southern Philippines island of Mindanao on Dec. 19, 2011.

Dennis M Sabangan / EPA

People search for their belongings in a village that was devastated by rampaging flood waters, in Iligan on Dec. 19, 2011.

Ted Aljibe / AFP - Getty Images

A resident stands next to an overturned vehicle swept away at the height of the devastating floods, in Iligan on Dec. 19, 2011, two days day after Typhoon Washi wrought havoc in the city.

Erik De Castro / Reuters

Policemen search for missing Typhoon Washi victims in a subdivision of Iligan city on Dec. 19, 2011.

msnbc.com news services report from ILIGAN, Philippines :

 With funeral parlors overwhelmed, authorities in a flood-stricken southern Philippine city on Monday organized the first mass burial of some of nearly 700 people who were swept to their deaths in one of worst calamities to strike the region in decades.

The staggering death toll from Friday night's disaster, spawned by a tropical storm, remained little changed but the number of missing varied widely. Official figures put the missing at 82, while the Philippine Red Cross estimated 800.

"We lost count of how many are missing," said Benito Ramos, head of the government's Office of Civil Defense.

Disaster agencies delivered body bags, food, water, and medicine to crowded evacuation centers throughout the region.

The government said nearly 143,000 people were affected by the flash floods and landslides. Read the full story.

More photos in our slideshow.

Previously on PhotoBlog: Storm, floods hits south Philippines

Nicolas Asfouri / AFP - Getty Images

A man maneuvers his boat inside Don Muang airport in Bangkok, Thailand, on November 15.

Saeed Khan / AFP - Getty Images

Vehicles are parked at the flooded Don Muang airport in Bangkok on November 15.

Saeed Khan / AFP - Getty Images

Flood-affected people make their way through a breached sand bag wall that was partially destroyed by villagers, near Don Muang airport in Bangkok on November 15.

Sakchai Lalit / AP

A man rows his boat through floodwaters near a statue of a zebra in the Bangkhunthian district of Bangkok on November 15. Thailand's Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is urging people in flooded areas to be patient, saying the government is working as hard as it can to drain the water.

Agence France Presse reports: 

Parts of Bangkok could still be flooded next year, Thailand's prime minister said, despite waters receding significantly in some areas of the city after weeks of inundation.

At least 562 people have been killed in the country's worst floods in half a century, which have inundated parts of the capital, although the downtown area remains dry after authorities' efforts to divert the waters.

Related content:

• Thai elephant park reopens in sign of recovery
• Two Bangkok industrial parks hold out against flood
• Small business ingenuity thrives in Thai floods
• Further coverage of the Thailand floods on PhotoBlog

Altaf Qadri / AP

A Thai woman struggles to walk as floodwater gushes through a market place near the Grand Palace Bangkok, Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011.

Joan Manuel Baliellas / AFP - Getty Images

A woman crosses a barrier made of sand bags as she leaves a shop in the financial district of Bangkok on October 27, 2011.

Joan Manuel Baliellas / AFP - Getty Images

Residents walk past near empty shelves at a supermarket in Bangkok on October 27, 2011. Thailand's premier warned nervous Bangkok citizens that incoming floods could last for four weeks.

Damir Sagolj / Reuters

Buddhist monks and other passengers travel on a bus through the flooded streets of central Bangkok October 27, 2011. Thailand's prime minister said Bangkok was fighting the forces of nature on Thursday as floodwater threatened to break through dikes protecting the capital and residents took to the road after the government told them to leave if they could.

As the five day 'public holiday' begins and the water continues to rise, residents were scrambling to find supplies or leaving the city.  Full story.

See more images of the flooding on PhotoBlog.

Pornchai Kittiwongsakul / AFP - Getty Images

A Buddhist monk prepares sandbags to be used as flood barriers at Dhammakaya temple in Pathum Thani province, suburban Bangkok, Thailand, on October 19. Three months of heavy monsoon rains have damaged the homes and livelihoods of millions of people and forced tens of thousands to seek refuge in shelters.

See more images of the flooding on PhotoBlog and watch the video below.

Rungroj Yongrit / EPA

Soldiers help a woman cross through floodwaters during an evacuation from a flood-hit village in Ayutthaya's Bang Pa-In district, a suburb of Bangkok, Thailand, on October 17.

The AP reports from BANGKOK:

 Thailand's capital was breathing easier Monday as barriers protecting Bangkok from the country's worst flooding in half a century held together and the government said floodwaters ravaging provinces just north of the capital had begun receding for the first time.

Authorities said the death toll rose to 307, however, mostly from drowning. And outside the capital, thousands of people remain displaced and hungry residents were struggling to survive in half-submerged towns. On Sunday, the military rescued terrified civilians from the rooftops of flooded buildings in the swamped city of Ayutthaya, one of the country's hardest-hit. Continue reading.

See more images of the flooding on PhotoBlog.

msnbc.com news services report from BALI, Indonesia:

A powerful earthquake jolted Indonesia's popular resort island of Bali on Thursday, causing widespread panic and injuring at least 50 people, many with broken bones and head wounds.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the 6.1-magnitude quake was centered 60 miles southwest of the island. Continue reading.

Firdia Lisnawati / AP

A man looks at a minivan crushed by a chunk of concrete fallen from a building after an earthquake in Kuta, Bali, Indonesia on Oct. 13. The 6.1-magnitude earthquake jolted Indonesia's popular resort island of Bali on Thursday, causing widespread panic and injuring at least 50 people.

Made Nagi / EPA

An injured woman arrives at Sanglah hospital in Bali on October 13.