PHUKET, July 7, 2008 (AFP) - Sirens blared Monday across the resort isle of Phuket as Thailand tested its new tsunami warning system meant to prevent a repeat of the 2004 Indian Ocean tragedy.

CHENGDU, China, May 20, 2008 (AFP) - Thousands of people spent the night in the open in quake-ravaged southwestern China amid heightened concerns Tuesday after a government warning of another powerful aftershock.

The government of worst-hit Sichuan province said there was an increased risk of a strong aftershock in areas already devastated by last week's massive earthquake.

BEIJING, May 18, 2008 (AFP) - Rainfall in China's quake-hit areas Saturday sent a mud-rock flow into a town, state media said, warning the wet weather could cause houses to collapse and 'worsen the disaster situation.'

NEW DELHI, May 15, 2008 (AFP) - Indian meteorologists warned Wednesday that a massive low pressure system was building off neighbouring Myanmar and was likely to drench untold numbers of homeless cyclone victims.

BANGKOK, May 14, 2008 (AFP) - The United Nations warned Wednesday that another cyclone could be forming over Myanmar, where up to two million people are still awaiting food and water after Cyclone Nargis.

BEIJING, May 12, 2008 (AFP) - Chinese authorities did not detect any warning signs ahead of Monday's earthquake that killed more than 8,600 people, state media reported.

'Monitoring before the earthquake did not detect any macroscopic abnormalities, and did not catch any relevant information,' said Deng Changwen, deputy head of Sichuan province's earthquake department.

BEIJING, May 12, 2008 (AFP) - China's seismology authority on Monday denied issuing a warning that a strong earthquake could strike Beijing in the evening, following a major quake in the country's southwest.

'We have issued no such warning,' Li Qianghua, a top official at the China Earthquake Bureau, was quoted as saying by the government's main website.

BEIJING, May 12, 2008 (AFP) - China has warned that an earthquake measuring between two and six on the Richter scale could hit Beijing late Monday, urging people to take precautions, state media reported.

The quake could hit between 10:00 pm (0200 GMT) and midnight (0400 GMT) Monday, the People's Daily reported on its website, quoting the China Earthquake Administration.

GENEVA, May 9, 2008 (AFP) - Myanmar could suffer another major storm this season even as it braces for more bad weather after the devastating impact of Cyclone Nargis, a UN weather expert warned Friday.

'It's not rare if they have another (cyclone),' said Yuichi Ono, a programme officer for the UN's International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR).

YANGON, May 2, 2008 (AFP) - A severe cyclone was expected to hit Myanmar's main city Yangon later Friday after the storm missed neighbouring Bangladesh, meteorologists said.