Quake felt throughout central NZ

Last night's widely-felt magnitude-7.0 earthquake was the largest in the area for up to 120 years, says a seismologist.

The first quake was followed nine minutes later by a 4.6 shake at the same depth, 70km south of Opunake.

GNS Science duty seismologist Lara Bland said the 7.0 quake was the largest to strike the Taranaki Bight area for the past 100 to 120 years.

It was related to the subduction zone where the Pacific tectonic plate was being driven under the Australian plate, she said.

The quake probably happened on the Pacific plate, which dipped down deeply, she said, occurring because the plate was hard and brittle.

No serious damage or injuries have been reported after a deep magnitude-7.0 earthquake that shook New Zealand from the Bay of Plenty to Canterbury last night.

GeoNet reported that the quake hit at 10.36pm on Tuesday It was centered 230 kilometres deep, with its epicenter 60km south of Opunake, Taranaki.

No tsunami warning was issued.

Christchurch, the New Zealand's second-largest city, is still recovering from a shallow quake measuring 6.3 which killed 182 people in February 2011 and caused some NZ$20 billion ($15.5 billion) in damage.

- Asian Tribune -

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