6.0 quake off the Wairarapa cast in New Zealand

Why is it that I get the feeling we are not being told everything. Both the RT article and the earthquake report are saying there was a 6.0 earthquake whereas NZ media is reporting it as a 5.4?

Are USGS using a different scale?

6.0 quake shakes New Zealand’s North Island

RT,

22 November, 2016

New Zealand has been hit by a 6.0 magnitude earthquake off North Island, USGS reports, just hours after Japan suffered a 7.4 magnitude jolt and a series of aftershocks off the Fukushima coast which unleashed tsunami waves.

READ MORE: 7.3 quake off Fukushima triggers imminent tsunami

The earthquake, initially estimated at magnitude 6.3, was registered at a depth of 37km (23 miles) and centered off the coast of North Island, some 123km (76 miles) from Palmerston North.

 

BREAKING.UK‏@BreakingDotUK

A strong earthquake has struck in Hawke's Bay New Zealand The 5.4 magnitude quake struck 70km south east of Porangahau, at a depth of 40km

• RETWEETS12
• 

1:40 PM - 22 Nov 2016

Tuesday’s quake comes amid a tsunami scare in Japan and just over a week after a powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck South Island on November 14, also triggering a tsunami and a series of aftershocks which left at least two people dead.

READ MORE: New 6.2 aftershock shakes New Zealand after powerful 7.8 earthquake kills at least 2

New Zealand is regularly hit by earthquakes because it sits in between the Indo-Australian and Pacific tectonic plates.

Here are the details from Earthquake Report

SRC	Location	UTC Date/time	M	D	INFO
ER	I Felt A (not Listed) Earthquake	Nov 22 23:59	4.6	0	MAP I Felt It
USGS	Namie, Japan	Nov 22 01:38	5.1	10	MAP I Felt It INFO
GEOFON	Near East Coast Of Honshu, Japan	Nov 22 01:37	5.4	10	MAP I Felt It INFO
EMSC	Near East Coast Of Honshu, Japan	Nov 22 01:37	5.1	15	MAP I Felt It INFO
EMSC	Near East Coast Of Honshu, Japan	Nov 22 01:31	5.1	40	MAP I Felt It INFO
GEOFON	Near East Coast Of Honshu, Japan	Nov 22 01:31	5.0	10	MAP I Felt It INFO
USGS	Castlepoint, New Zealand	Nov 22 00:19	6.0	10	MAP I Felt It INFO
GEOFON	Off E. Coast Of N. Island, N.z.	Nov 22 00:19	5.9	10	MAP I Felt It INFO
GEONET	Porangahau	Nov 22 00:19	5.4	30	MAP I Felt It INFO
EMSC	Off E. Coast Of N. Island, N.z.	Nov 22 00:19	5.8	20	MAP I Felt It INFO
EMSC	Eastern Honshu, Japan	Nov 22 00:03	5.0	10	MAP I Felt It INFO
GEOFON	Eastern Honshu, Japan	Nov 22 00:03	5.0	10	MAP I Felt It INFO

Here is the report from Pravda (aka RNZ)

Strong earthquake rattles Hawke's Bay

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/318662/strong-earthquake-rattles-hawke's-bay

3:01 pm today 

Photo: Geonet screenshot

A magnitude 5.4 earthquake has struck off the coast of Hawke's Bay today, as aftershocks from last Monday's earthquake continue to roll on.

GeoNet said the earthquake struck 70km south-east of Porangahau at 1.20pm, at a depth of 30km.

Thousands of aftershocks have struck since a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck near Hanmer Springs last week.

5.4 magnitude earthquake 

rattles southern Hawke's Bay

The quake was recorded off the North Island.

Stuff,

22 November, 2016

A "strong" 5.4 magnitude earthquake has struck southern Hawke's Bay, Geonet reports.

The quake hit 70km south-east of Porangahau, at a depth of 30km, at 1.19pm on Tuesday.

Roseanne Steele from the Porangahau Beach Road Holiday park said there had been several earthquakes throughout the day. The latest one was the strongest.

"It was a big sway, a big movement. There was a wave in the pool. My tropical fish tank upstairs was moving," she said.

"The place is continually moving out here. It's not nice, not nice at all."

Geonet have reported 12 shakes off the coast of Porangahua in the past 24-hours.

GNS Science duty seismologist Dr John Ristau said the Porangahau earthquakes were right at the southern end of where a slow slip event was taking place.

"This is likely related to that," he said. "This looks like a particularly big one."

But he acknowledged the 5.4 magnitude earthquake was a little bit further offshore than the others, so it was difficult to say for certain whether it was really associated with the slow slip event.

The others in the area in the past few days were smaller or moderate-sized.

The slow slip event was "kind of" going from East Cape along the east coast, ending around the area where the quakes were happening.

There had been similar quakes in the past, where a slow slip event had triggered seismic activity in the area.

Slow slip events happened on the boundary of two tectonic plates. In this case, off the east coast of the North Island, the Pacific Plate was pushing beneath the Australian Plate, which the North Island was sitting on.

The plates were locked and not moving from the surface and going down to a few 10s of km.

"But further down it's slowly creeping where the slow slip event is happening," Ristau said.

Slow slip events increased stress in the shallower areas where the plates were locked.

Meanwhile the government is lashing back at suggestions from GeoNet which is only manned during daytime during the week  that it needs better technologyand more funding. All this despite the Christchurch arthquake and recent activity.

They don't mind spending BILLIONS on defence "needs" and are getting ready bribe the electorate with tax cuts.

If we get another term of this government everything will have been destroyed irrevocably.

Minister criticises 

GeoNet's funding call

GeoNet's call for extra funding so it can be staffed around the clock was an 'unreasonable criticism', according to acting Civil Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee.