A moderately strong earthquake struck near the Wairarapa town of Masterton this afternoon.
Sunday 28th November 2010
A magnitude 5.4 earthquake struck 10 km north-west of Masterton, 80 km north-east of Wellington at 2:22 this afternoon, New Zealand Daylight Time. The 30 km deep quake was felt from the central part of the North Island to Marlborough. More than 1700 felt reports had been lodged with GeoNet by 4 o’clock this afternoon, with light damage being reported at Carterton, Masterton and Otaki.
Small aftershocks have followed, the largest of which was a 25 km deep magnitude 3.6 event at 2:45 p.m.
(Click for larger image) The earthquake left a strong trace on several seismographs, and several small aftershocks followed.
(Click for larger image) GeoNet’s map showed the shaking intensity reported by two instruments near Masterton in the southern part of the North Island reached 6 on the Modified Mercalli scale at which point walking steadily can be difficult, furniture and appliances may move on smooth surfaces, and slight non-structural damage to buildings may occur.
[Compiled from data provided by the GeoNet project and its sponsors EQC, GNS Science and FRST.]