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5.8 magnitudes earthquake felt in lower North Island

Author
NZME news service,
Publish Date
Mon, 12 Oct 2015, 9:14PM

5.8 magnitudes earthquake felt in lower North Island

Author
NZME news service,
Publish Date
Mon, 12 Oct 2015, 9:14PM

UPDATED 10:18pm: The quake that rocked the lower North Island this evening has been upgraded to magnitude 5.8.

GeoNet said the "severe" intensity quake struck 15km east of Pongaroa, on the east coast near the border between Wairarapa and Manawatu, at 9.05pm.

The quake was 24km deep.

The quake was felt in many parts of the central and lower North Island and top of the South Island.

Twitter users have reported feeling the quake in main centres throughout the lower and central North Island, including Palmerston North, Wellington, Napier and Whanganui.

GNS duty seismologist Caroline Holden said there had been about 3000 reports from people who said they felt the quake by 9.50pm. They were mostly centred around the central and lower North Island but there were a few as far north as Auckland and one in Dunedin.

No one has reported damage or injury at this stage.

"A lot of them [reported] a lot of rattling but we don't have any reports of damage and we don't expect any either."

Dr Holden said there had been about 10 "really small" aftershocks so far, mostly around 2 and 3 magnitude.

She said it wasn't unusual to have an earthquake in the area.

"The region is prone to very slow earthquakes so it's not a surprise".

Pongaroa resident Andrew Reitemeyer was getting ready for bed when everything started shaking.

His house is located roughly 40km from the earthquakes epicentre.

"It was quite long, about 20 or 30 seconds," he said. "It came in two phases, things started to build up, slow down, then it got really strong."

He said quite a few things were rattled and some things fell off shelves.

"There was no major damage though."

He said it was the strongest earthquake he'd felt in his two years living in the town.

 

Dave Hastie, manager of the Whakataki Hotel, which is located several kilometres south of where the quake was centred, was sitting in the pub at the time.

He initially thought it was just a blustery wind.

"It was one of the better ones," he says. "I thought of dashing outside."

Mr Hastie says it was pretty short-lived and only lasted about 30 seconds.

Peter Te Rangi said he felt it strongly in Palmerston North while Paul O'Shaughnessy described it as Short and sharp in Te Awanga Hawkes Bay.

Napier resident Kay Noel said it "continued for a good 8 seconds".

A Havelock North resident said "it went for 30-40 seconds swaying the curtains. Glass flexed in the window frames. Low frequency noise".

John Booth, the Mayor of Carterton District, said the earthquake "Gave the old farm house a good rock and roll,feel like I'm on a boat".

Doug Drummond said "We are in takapau wow strong it was!! I jumped out of bed and panicked checked son and under doorway".

The last comparable quake in the region was in Eketahuna last year. It was originally assessed as 6.6 on the Richter Scale but was downgraded to 6.2 and was also felt in similar areas as tonight's shake.

There was damage to walls and chimneys and road closures and the EQC received more than 5000 claims of varying degrees after the Eketahuna quake. Most were minor to moderate but one building had to be demolished and three people suffered moderate injuries after being hit by falling items.

Residents have reported feeling it in the following areas:

* Blenheim

* Napier

* Wellington

* Taranaki

* Hawkes Bay, including Hastings

* New Plymouth

* Masterton

* Feilding

* Kuratau Northwest of Turangi

* Whanganui

* Waitomo

* Taupo

* Paraparaumu

* Palmerston North

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