Strong earthquake shakes New Zealand’s South Island
New Zealanders have been rocked by a 6.2 magnitude earthquake in the central South Island.
The earthquake was centered in the Ashburton Lakes area of Canterbury, about 120 km west of Christchurch, with a shallow depth of 10 km.
Initially classified as a magnitude of 5.8 at 9:14 a.m. Wednesday, it was upgraded to 6.4 and revised again to 6.2 by monitoring agency GeoNet shortly after.
“It wasn’t a slight shake,” dairy farmer Craig Hickman said on the social media platform X.
The earthquake was felt by thousands of New Zealanders, particularly in Christchurch and Dunedin, 300 km to the south.
Kiwis described the quake as a tremor that lasted more than a minute.
Former Green MP Mojo Mathers was nearby, calling it “much too close for comfort!” »
“Peel Forest is quite close to the epicenter – whole house shook, cupboard doors flying open, flashbacks to the (Christchurch) earthquakes.”
The devastating 2011 Christchurch earthquake, in which 185 people died, had a similar profile – a magnitude of 6.2 five kilometers underground – to Wednesday’s, but much closer to the country’s largest city. South Island.
This earthquake continues to haunt many Kiwis, with novelist Rachael King in Christchurch expressing a common sense of concern about her post.
“It’s the kind of #eqnz that makes you worry that a really big event is happening somewhere far away,” she said.
Kineta Booker said it was a “big problem” that caused signs to swing at the Riccarton Shopping Center in Christchurch.
GeoNet also recorded eight aftershocks over the next 30 minutes, all indistinguishable to humans.
