Earthquake shakes central New Zealand hour before Fifa match, felt in both Wellington and Christchurch

An earthquake has been felt in both the North and South Islands. Photo / Geonet

A 5.6 magnitude earthquake centered at the top of the South Island has rocked Wellington, and has been felt in Christchurch.

GeoNet said it struck at a depth of 170km, about 75km north of French Pass at 11.53am.

The quake struck as thousands of football fans were heading to Wellington Regional Stadium for the Women’s World Cup quarter-final clash between Spain and the Netherlands, which kicks off at 1pm.

The tremor has been felt widely across central New Zealand, with just under 20,000 people reporting feeling the quake, according to GeoNet.

One Twitter user said it was “rolling and juddery in Wellington”.

One Wellington resident called the shaking “quite a wallop. You could feel it working up to itself before it hit”, despite GeoNet’s description of the tremor as “light”.

One person contested GeoNet’s description: “Felt it in Tawa, [it was] definitely not ‘light’.”

“Whoa that was a big one,” said another.

Whoa that was a big one #eqnz

— Katie 🌊🌱 (@katie_pai) August 10, 2023

GeoNet said, “shaking like this is a good reminder that earthquakes can occur anywhere in New Zealand at any time”.

“In the event of a large earthquake, remember to drop, cover, and hold.”

New Zealand’s Civil Defence group, the National Emergency Management Agency (Nema) reiterated that advice and said it hoped everyone was okay.

One Christchurch resident who felt the shaking said it “brought back bad memories of [the February] 2011 [quake]”.

With the quake striking just over an hour before the Fifa quarter-final, senior writer for sports broadcaster ESPN, Mark Odgen, said it was a “minor drama”.

“Apparently [magnitude 5.6 is] quite big. Game goes ahead...”