A burst of moderately strong, shallow earthquake activity struck the southern part of the Kermadec island chain this afternoon.
Sunday 24th May 2009
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck 130 km east-south-east of L’Esperance Rock (270 km south of Raoul Island) at 12:58 p.m. today. The 13 km-deep quake was located 915 km north-east of Auckland according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Geoscience Australia reports the quake as magnitude 5.9 and slightly deeper at 35 km. It estimates that the event would have been felt up to 400 km from the epicentre.
Two 5th magnitude nearby earthquakes have followed. A magnitude 5.3 quake at 2:00 p.m. was located 120 km east of L’Esperance Rock at a depth of 10 km. At 3:22 p.m. a magnitude 5.1 event was reported 110 km east of L’Esperance Rock, also at a depth of 10 km.
Early on the morning of Thursday 21st, just before 1 a.m., a magnitude 5.1 earthquake also struck near L’Esperance Rock. The 12:44 a.m. quake was located 110 km east-north-east of L’Esperance Rock (215 km south of Raoul Island) at a depth of 40 km.
[Compiled from data supplied by the U.S. Geological Survey and Geoscience Australia and their contributing agencies.]