A strong undersea earthquake struck the southern Kermadec Islands this evening.
Sunday, 2nd February 2014
A magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck the southern Kermadec Islands at 10:27 p.m. this evening, New Zealand Daylight Time. The United States Geological Survey reports the earthquake as magnitude 6.6 at a depth of 20km. It was centred 732 km north-east of Whakatane, 741 km north-north-east of Gisborne.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre reports the earthquake as magnitude 6.5 at a depth of 40 km, centred 33° south, 177.2° west. In its report it advised that a destructive widespread tsunami threat did not exist, based on historical earthquake and tsunami data.
[click for larger image]. The earthquake left a strong trace on GeoNet’s seismograph network, but there are no reports that the quake was felt on mainland New Zealand. GeoNet reports the event as magnitude 6.4 at a depth of 33 km, centred 730 km north-east of Whakatane.
Geoscience Australia has not issued a report on the earthquake and the Joint Australian Tsunami Watch website has no reference to the event.
She was a good shake. Certainly felt it here in Gisborne, a jolt then swaying for some time after. Seemed to go on for some time. and the house creaked a bit. Must say it is easier to give comment on this page than with Geo Net, their web site is rather hard to find you way around, and when I looked, the quake wasn’t registered on their quake page, I had to get a very helpful ‘wizz’ to help me find my way around Geo Net site so I could give them a comment.
The original earthquake report has been shuffled off GeoNet’s website by more recent activity.
For those who wish to report what they felt, the quake report can be found via this link:
http://geonet.org.nz/quakes/region/newzealand/2014p087554
Just click on the blue “Felt it?” button on the earthquake report page to start filling in GeoNet’s questionnaire.