Small quake felt widely

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

A sudden, sharp jolt from nowhere startled Gisborne residents last night.

It came at 6.43pm, and by 7pm had  been reported to Geonet by over 463 people.

Geonet’s website recorded the jolt — felt by some as a sort of “thud” — as a light earthquake, with its epicentre around 15 kilometres to the north-west of the city.

The 3.9 magnitude earthquake was centred at a depth of 22 kilometres.

The area of origin, near SH2 by Ngakoroa Road, is the source of many local shakes, being where a number of fault lines converge.

In Hexton one resident reported doors rattling before the sudden jolt.

Strangely for such a small quake, the jolt was felt as far south as Nelson, Wellington and Upper Hutt, and also in the Bay of Plenty at Whakatāne.

A barely perceptible quake in the same spot occurred 27 minutes later,  at 7.10, reported by just 11 people.

Geonet says this was at magnitude 2.5 at a depth of 17km.