Strong 5.9 earthquake strikes near Taumarunui

Saturday, 25 July 2026

A strong magnitude 5.9 earthquake has struck near Taumarunui, waking people across much of the North Island and even being felt in parts of the South Island.

Ruapehu District Council deputy mayor Brenda Ralph said the quake left the three children in her home scared and traumatised.

“We are just having another shake now,” she said while talking to Stuff, pausing to comfort a child.

Did you feel it? Send your photos and videos to newstips@stuffdigital.co.nz

“It was one hell of a shake,” Ralph added of the quake that hit at 4.51am on Saturday morning and was centred 5km south of Taumarunui at a depth of 9km, according to GeoNet.

GeoNet initially recorded a depth of 10km.

GeoNet has since recorded a string of aftershocks following the initial quake. Since 5am, at least five aftershocks ranging from magnitude 2.6 to 3.4 have struck within 10km of Taumarunui. The largest, a magnitude 3.4, hit at 5.04am, followed by magnitude 2.8, 2.7, 2.8 and 2.6 tremors between 5.09am and 5.12am.

“It was a big jolt, lights were flashing,” Ralph said. “It’s the worst I have felt.”

Ralph said some items that flew off shelves and mantles were broken, but nothing serious. A check on her neighbours found they were OK.

Former Black Cap fast bowler Chris Martin was woken by the quake and raced to his New World supermarket, thankful when he got there it had suffered no major damage.

“There’s a little bit of stock on the floor but the team has done an amazing job at cleaning up. We have some track lighting down so we are waiting on a sparky, but we are all good.”

Martin, a mainstay of the New Zealand test attack from 2000-13, said he had been in a few earthquakes and today’s was “in the top three”.

“It was a pretty good roller that got everyone out of bed without an alarm clock.”

Maroof Muhammed, who works the graveyard shift at Taumarunui’s BP petrol station, said it was frightening. “It was scary and confusing. It was horrible. We have safety guards on the shelves but some things still fell off.”

At the Bakehouse Coffee shop, Sok Chhoir, said she and two colleagues felt the building shaking and banging, but there was no damage.

Down the road at the Taumarunui Bakery Waraporn Ng said the quake shook paint off the walls and some items off shelves, but there was no significant damage.

“We are on the main road so at first I thought it was a big truck driving past but it kept getting stronger and stronger.”

There had been heavy rain in the region and a number of slips had occurred affecting state highways.

One family saw the “bank coming down” as they were travelling along State Highway 3, and said it was one of the “scariest things”.

Stuff readers from around the country described being jolted awake by the shaking.

Near the epicentre, a reader in Kuratau, north of Tūrangi, said the quake was “really loud” and “went on for quite a while”, with lights swinging inside the house.

In nearby Ōhakune, one reader estimated about 40 seconds of shaking, saying nothing was broken but the town’s fire alarm sounded almost immediately. Another reader in Waiouru simply described it as “a good one”.

One Raglan resident said it was “a really big shake that went on and on” and the strongest they had experienced in 39 years. Another described repeated light shaking that rattled shower doors before joking: “Time for a cuppa!”

In Glen Eden, Auckland, one reader said they woke to a side-to-side rocking motion that rattled wardrobe doors for between five and 12 seconds.

Others reported feeling the quake in Titirangi, Avondale and Kumeū in Auckland, Huntly, Mangakino, Taupō and Tauranga. A Tauranga resident said they felt strong rocking during the initial quake but not the aftershock.

One reader in Taupō said they were woken by an emergency alert sounding on their tablet, although they did not feel the shaking.

The earthquake was also felt as far away as Onekaka in Golden Bay.

Manawatū-Whanganui Emergency Management Group said there were minor slips in the area, but no reports of injuries or building damage. Power, water and communications systems are all operating.