A pair of earthquakes struck about 1 minute apart near Matata in the Bay of Plenty this morning. The first of the quakes was the strongest member of the Matata earthquake swarm to be recorded since the magnitude 4.7 event of September last year.
The first earthquake struck at 8:33 a.m. on Friday the 25th of January 2008, New Zealand Daylight Time. This was a magnitude 4.3 quake located 20 km north of Matata at a depth of 15 km.
Just under a minute later a shallower magnitude 3.4 quake struck closer to Matata at a depth of 5 km.
Both quakes were heard and felt at several locations in the Bay of Plenty from Tauranga to Opotiki and as far south as Kawerau. One report has been filed from Gisborne, across on the East Coast. The public report that the quakes were felt strongly at Awakeri, Pikowai and Te Puke, with the second event reported to be stronger and noisier at Matata.
[Compiled from data provided by the Geonet project and its sponsors EQC, GNS Science and FRST.]