A series of quakes in NZ

5.8 quake wakes Wellington

Radio NZ,

21 July, 2013

A magnitude 5.8 earthquake shook Wellington and the upper South Island for about 40 seconds on Sunday morning.

The quake was centred 30km east of Seddon at a depth of 19km at 7.17am.

Geonet describes the quake as severe.

It was preceded by a magnitude 4.2 quake at 7.05am at a depth of 18km.

By 7.25am, it had been followed by two more in the same area, measuring magnitude 4.2 and 3.9. respectively. They were 13km and 10km deep at 7.20am and 7.25am.

GNS Science says more can be expected.

Civil Defence said no problems have been reported.

Baker Sean Boswell of Brumby's in Blenheim said he was surprised how long the quake lasted

''Most noticeable was the rumble before the shake,'' he said. ''Everything was sort of moving.''

All train services around Wellington were stopped after the quakes and TranzMetro said delays can be expected.

Services on the Wairarapa, Hutt Valley and the Kapiti lines are replaced by bus.

Very strong to moderate earthquakes continue to strike the Cook strait, New Zealand

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Last update: July 20, 2013 at 7:55 pm by By Ashish Khanal

Update 19:53 UTC : Geonet has updated the epicenter location to the middle of the Cook strait, which implies a lot lesser chance on damage than with the earlier epicenter. We do not expect serious damage anymore based on the I Have Felt reports received by Geonet.

Image courtesy and copyright Geonet

Update 19:48 UTC : If the Geonet data are correct we are not confident that this earthquake will not be damaging !

Update 19:46 UTC : this quake looks (at least on the seismogram) a lot stronger than the first one. A lot more and stronger aftershocks too.

Our automatic system failed to make an INFO page for the M5.9 earthquake. We used an earlier INFO page to create this in-depth.

Our main problem is locating the real epicenter of this earthquake. EMSC, USGS and Geonet are all reporting other locations. Local Geonet is reporting an epicenter almost below Wellington, the others more toward the South Island.

Most important Earthquake Data:

Magnitude : 4.2

GMT/UTC Time : 2013-07-20 19:04:40

Depth (Hypocenter)  : 18 km