Archive for September, 2006

Moderate Quake Near Raoul Island

Thursday, September 28th, 2006

A moderately strong earthquake struck near Raoul Island in the Kermadec Islands this evening, New Zealand time.

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Strong Earthquake Near Tonga

Thursday, September 28th, 2006

A strong, moderately deep earthquake struck near Tonga at 6:22 this evening (NZST).

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Earthquake Swarm in Northland

Thursday, September 21st, 2006

A swarm of light, shallow earthquakes has been occurring near Kerikeri in Northland since September 17th.

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Raoul Volcano – Activity Declines to Normal

Tuesday, September 19th, 2006

Activity at Raoul volcano in the Kermadec Islands has continued to decline and GNS Science have reduced the alert level for the volcano.

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Central New Zealand Earthquakes

Saturday, September 16th, 2006

Last night’s 5th magnitude earthquake in the Tasman Sea west of Paraparaumu was the latest in a short series of deep to very deep earthquakes to strike central New Zealand in the past ten days.

The earthquake struck close to where a magnitude 5.0 quake at a similar depth early in the morning of Monday May 15th caused items to fall from shelves in the Wellington and Marlborough regions.

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Island Watch: Quakes Near Tonga

Tuesday, September 12th, 2006

Earthquake activity near Tonga has risen during the last 7 days, according to data supplied by the US Geological Survey.

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Deep Quake Under Nelson Province

Monday, September 11th, 2006

A deep earthquake struck underneath the Moutere Valley in Nelson Province just after 6 o’clock this evening.

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Geological Summary for New Zealand Area, August 2006

Monday, September 11th, 2006

Earthquake activity continued at a low level. Raoul Island, White Island, Mt Ngauruhoe, and Mt Ruapehu remain at Alert Level 1.

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Ice Cliff Collapses into Crater Lake

Sunday, September 10th, 2006

A spectacular collapse of ice and snow into the crater lake has been observed at Mt Ruapehu, according to Hazardwatch.

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August 2006 Colder, Wetter, Windier

Saturday, September 9th, 2006

Tawa’s climate during August 2006 was colder, wetter and windier than last year, continuing the trend set during July.

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Morning Earthquakes

Wednesday, September 6th, 2006

The 4th magnitude earthquake which struck near Napier at dawn today, was the first of 4 events which occurred at various lower North Island locations in a 33-minute period.

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Hydro Lake Storage Continues to Decline

Tuesday, September 5th, 2006

National hydro lake storage continued its decline during August, reaching its lowest level for the year at the end of the month.

Careful management of electricity generating resources during the winter of 2006 maintained the hydro storage at levels well above the 1992 crisis year, managing to meet demand caused by 40-year record snows in the South Island and very wet conditions in parts of the North Island.

However, hydro reserves at the end of August dropped below the storage levels at the same time at end of the 1992 crisis period, highlighting a continued need for more generating capacity.

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Moderate Earthquake Near Mt Taranaki

Monday, September 4th, 2006

A moderately strong, deep earthquake struck near Mt Taranaki early this morning.

The earthquake, which clearly showed on Geonet’s seismometers, was probably too deep to have been felt.

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Earthquake in the Tokelau Islands

Monday, September 4th, 2006

An unusual intra-plate earthquake struck the South Pacific state of the Tokelau Islands on Sunday afternoon, New Zealand time.

Tokelau, which is several hundred kilometres north of Fiji and Tonga where plate boundary earthquakes are commonly felt, does not normally experience such activity, and seismic records for the area are scarce.

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Strong Quake in Solomon Islands

Saturday, September 2nd, 2006

The strong earthquake which struck in the Solomon Islands late this evening (New Zealand time) has been revised to magnitude 6.8 or 6.9.

The quake, which showed clearly on seismometers in New Zealand, struck at 10:19 p.m. New Zealand Standard Time. It was located 60 km south of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea at a depth of 54 km. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued a bulletin at 10:35 p.m. advising that a Pacific-wide tsunami event was NOT expected to result from the earthquake.

[Compiled from data supplied by the US Geological Survey, Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre and their contributing agencies.]