'Got my heart racing': Central New Zealand rocked by late night 5.4 magnitude quake

Sunday, 26 January 2020

A late night 5.4 magnitude earthquake near the Kapiti Coast was felt widely across central New Zealand.

Many New Zealanders got a late night shock on Saturday after a 5.4 magnitude earthquake rocked parts of the country.

The earthquake originated in the Wellington Region's Kapiti Coast – 45 kilometres north-west of Paraparaumu – and was widely felt over the central and southern North Island, as well as the top of the South Island.

GeoNet said the quake had caused moderate shaking across the country. By 1.12am it had received more than 26,000 felt reports on its website, a new record that eclipses the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake, which generated 15,840 such reports.

* Tsunami alerts: what you need to know

* Magnitude 4.3 earthquake shakes the lower North Island

* Why deep quakes don't typically produce aftershocks

The majority of reports centred around the lower North Island and Upper South Island, but some apparently felt shaking as far afield as Northland and Canterbury.

The earthquake took place on Saturday at 11:45pm and was initially reported by Geonet as 100 kilometres deep. This was later revised to 64 kilometres.

'This event was too small to cause a tsunami threat to New Zealand. Earthquakes in this region are fairly common with mechanisms likely associated with subduction tectonics,' a GeoNet spokesperson said.

Earlier on Saturday evening, around 7.27pm, a 4.7 magnitude earthquake was felt in the North Island's West Coast and the top of the South Island. GeoNet reported that the tremor originated 50 kilometres north-west of Paraparaumu, the same site of the second quake.

Kiwis took to social media moments after the second quake had given them a late night fright.

Wellingtonian Kate Henderson said the rattling windows 'got my heart racing', while another Twitter user, Dave Roper, said it was not 'an insignificant rumble' in Paraparaumu, where the quake was centred.

Ian Yeoman said it had been a 'rock n' roll sort of day,' while Paola Brett compared the experience to 'my washing machine as it goes into spin cycle!'