Two early morning quakes near Te Anau

Monday, 20 July 2026

A magnitude 5.9 earthquake near Te Anau triggered a brief tsunami warning and self-evacuations, throwing a fresh spotlight on the looming threat of the Alpine Fault.

A Magnitude 4.4 and a M3.7 earthquake shook the bottom of the South Island early on Monday.

GeoNet reported a M5.2 at 2.08am, centred 45km north of Te Anau, which was later downgraded to a M4.4 quake. It had a recorded depth 51km.

A second quake measuring M3.8 struck at 6.33am Monday. The weak quake was downgraded to M3.7. It had a recorded depth of 44 km.

The large earthquake that hit north of Te Anau on Thursday night was a M5.9 that struck 53km deep about 40km north of Te Anau at 9.14pm, was initially recorded as a 6.3, before being revised down.

It triggered a brief tsunami warning and self-evacuations, throwing a fresh spotlight on the looming threat of the Alpine Fault.

The largest Monday morning quake was initially reported as M5.2 and was downgraded to 4.4. It caused moderate shaking near Te Anau.

National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) director of Civil Defence Emergency Management John Price said there was a 75% chance the Alpine Fault would “go off in the next 50 years at a magnitude 8+”.