A magnitude 5.4 earthquake in the Waikato has rattled the North Island this evening. Photo / 123rf
A magnitude 5.4 earthquake in the Waikato has rattled the North Island this evening. Photo / 123rf
A magnitude 5.4 earthquake in the Waikato has rattled the North Island this evening, with reports of the shaking coming from as far as Christchurch and Auckland.
GeoNet reported the “light” quake struck at 6.07pm, 20km southeast of Tokoroa at a depth of 159km.
People on social media immediately reported their experience of the earthquake. One Twitter user said, “Quite the rolling, wobbly shake here in Levin.”
GeoNet said this earthquake is not related to the Taupō volcano and recent seismic activity there.
“This quake is due to plate subduction under the North Island and is not related to Taupō volcano,” GeoNet said.
A magnitutde 5.4 earthquake was reported in the Waikato, with people as far as Auckland and Christchurch saying they felt a "wobble". Photo / GeoNet
“Another nice wobble in Palmy, went on for about 20 seconds or so,” said another Twitter user.
“Nice, long and rolling ... I heard it coming also,” a Palmerston North resident said.
Wednesday night’s strong earthquake sparked a tsunami in Lake Taupō, destroying boats and damaging the township’s foreshore as more than 180 aftershocks have been detected.
The central North Island is continuing to be rattled by tremors in the wake of a strong 5.6 magnitude quake.
The shallow quake struck about 20km southwest of Taupō shortly before midnight, at a depth of 5km.One of the larger aftershocks recorded was a 4.1 magnitude tremor at 1.53pm yesterday.
#eqnz another nice wobble in Palmy, went on for about 20 seconds or so
GNS seismic duty officer John Ristau and volcanic duty officer Steve Sherburn said Wednesday night’s quake was by far the largest tremor recorded since May when activity ramped up under the lake.
The previous largest was a 4.2 magnitude quake on September 10. The scientists said this week was now regarded as the most active of this year but most of this was down to aftershocks.”The current week, is the most active this year, and it is twice as active as the next most which was in early September, but this activity is almost all aftershocks of the M5.6 earthquake.”
While it was earlier reported there was a small possibility an even more powerful quake would strike, the likely scenario was a repeat of an earlier September sequence which saw activity decrease.
”While it is impossible to predict earthquakes – we can only calculate statistical forecasts – however when an earthquake occurs there is always a small possibility that a larger earthquake will occur,” Ristau said.
”The most likely scenario is there will be a number of smaller aftershocks which will taper off, much like we experienced with the M 5 in September 2019 with a similar aftershock sequence.”
Ooh quite the rolling, wobbly shake here in Levin.#EQNZ
