An early evening earthquake in Cook Strait today, was felt as a sharp jolt abruptly followed by noisy shaking.
Saturday 10th October 2009
A magnitude 4.8 earthquake located under Cook Strait, 20 km north-west of Wellington, was felt as a sharp jolt quickly followed by a few seconds of noisy shaking this evening. The 6:02 p.m. quake was 40 km deep.
The event reminded some people of the pair of quakes that woke sleepers early on the morning of August 28th. The shallow magnitude 5.2 quake and magnitude 4.3 aftershock were located 20 km south of Wellington.
This evening’s quake was felt strongly along the west coast from Wellington city to Waikanae, and in the Hutt Valley as far north as Pinehaven. Property damage is not expected, but some household contents may have suffered. The 1400 reports which had flowed into GeoNet by 8 p.m. came from several locations in Marlborough in the South Island and the lower North Island, and as far north as Taranaki.
[Compiled from data provided by the GeoNet project and its sponsors EQC, GNS Science and FRST.]