A moderately strong earthquake struck the northern Bay of Plenty this morning.
Sunday 15th March 2009
A deep magnitude 5.5 undersea earthquake struck 100 km north of White Island volcano this morning. The quake, which struck at 6:38 a.m. was calculated to be 110 km north of Te Kaha (150 km north of Whakatane) at a depth of 170 km.
GeoNet reports that the tremor was felt from Opotiki to Poverty Bay, and at Te Karaka. Of the 23 reports filed with GeoNet by members of the public, 15 have been from suburbs of Gisborne.
The U.S. Geological Survey reports the quake as magnitude 5.0, located 150 km north-east of Rotorua (195 km north-north-west of Gisborne) at a depth of 185 km.
[Compiled from data provided by the GeoNet project and its sponsors EQC, GNS Science and FRST; and the US Geological Survey and its contributing agencies.]