A burst of aftershock activity has hit Banks Peninsula this afternoon.
Saturday, 8th October 2011
Two shallow magnitude 4 earthquakes have struck Banks Peninsula this afternoon.
The burst of activity began at 4:17 p.m. NZDT with a magnitude 4.8 earthquake centred 10 km south-east of Diamond Harbour (10 km north-east of Little River). The shallow quake, only 8 km deep, was felt strongly on Banks Peninsula and in several Christchurch suburbs. Slight damage has been reported to the GeoNet website by respondents at Church Bay and Saint Albans.
Ten minutes later, a magnitude 3.6 earthquake, 5 km deep, struck 10 km east of Diamond Harbour, 20 km north-east of Little River.
A magnitude 4.1 quake, 8 km deep, struck 10 km south-east of Diamond Harbour, 10 km north-east of Little River at 4:48 p.m. The event was felt in northern parts of Banks Peninsula and at several Christchurch suburbs.
The three events were centred 20 km south-east of the city of Christchurch which has been experiencing aftershock activity since the magnitude 7 quake of September 2010 and the magnitude 6 quake which caused significant loss of life in February this year.
[Compiled from data provided by the GeoNet project and its sponsors EQC, GNS Science and FRST.]