Wellington shakes par for course, says expert

Wellington City. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Wellingtonians feeling rattled by the capital's latest quake should take a deep breath and carry on - the recent seismic activity is par for the course, an expert says.

A 4.2 magnitude quake struck at 10.16am yesterday. It was centred 10km west of Porirua, north of Wellington, at a depth of 30km.

It was felt widely throughout the Wellington region, and in the central city it was felt as a short, sharp rocking motion.

It followed a 5.7 magnitude quake on Saturday night which was centred west of Picton but felt widely throughout Marlborough and the Wellington region.

No damage was reported after yesterday's quake but Saturday's caused minor damage to Wellington's Meridian Building.

GNS Science seismologist Lara Bland said the two quakes were nothing out of the ordinary but the tragic results of the Canterbury quakes had brought home to people that they could be deadly.

That region was rocked by a 7.1 magnitude quake on September 4 last year which caused widespread damage.

Worse was to follow on February 22, when a 6.3 quake claimed 181 lives.

"I think a lot of people take them much more seriously now, after Christchurch," she said.

"Certainly in my lifetime, in Wellington, you know there has been the risk but you've only ever felt something small.

"But now everyone has this immediate contrast to something that happened only [10 months] ago, and what they can do."

GNS now received far more public responses to quakes because people were much more aware of them, she said.

And the unease they caused wasn't confined to the general public.

"I work with these every day. I know the statistics. I know that there are tens of thousands every year in New Zealand but even so [with] the 5.7 the other day I ran inside and filled up a big pot of water," she said.

"I think everyone has it at the front of their minds now."

However, there is some good news for Wellingtonians; there are no more or fewer quakes than at any other time.

"Not at all. We're very active here," she said.

"It's probably business as usual ... [take a] deep breath and carry on."