A tremor passed through the eastern North Island on election night when a moderately strong, very deep earthquake struck near Rotorua.
The magnitude 5.4 earthquake, which struck three minutes before 1 a.m. on Sunday the 9th of November 2008, was located 20 km west of Rotorua at a depth of 200 km. The quake was felt from Tauranga to Wellington, with most of the 30 reports from the public coming from Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay.
A similar-sized deep earthquake struck the same area early on the afternoon of the 19th of October. The magnitude 5.6 quake, also 200 km deep, was located 20 km north of Rotorua.
During 2007 two deep quakes of magnitude 5.1 were reported near Rotorua. The quake of the 13th of June was located 10 km south-east of Rotorua at a depth of 160 km, and the event of October 11th was located 20 km south-east of Rotorua, also at a depth of 160 km.
[Compiled from data provided by the GeoNet project and its sponsors EQC, GNS Science and FRST.]