Photo: 123RF
A moderate earthquake has struck southwest of Wellington, measuring a preliminary 4.7 magnitude.
The earthquake struck at 5.25pm at a depth of 5km, 35km southwest of Wellington, according to GeoNet.
A Saturday afternoon shake for folks in the centre of country, due to a shallow M4.7 earthquake with light shaking that occurred in the Cook Strait. We have received over 9000 felt reports. For more detail, see https://t.co/cysF4E09qF pic.twitter.com/dGzpzGH4iS
— GeoNet (@geonet) January 20, 2024
The quake was felt throughout Wellington and the upper South Island, according to early reports.
Nearly 9500 people have reported feeling the quake on GeoNet, some as far away as the Bay of Plenty and Otago. The majority of users described it as "light" or "weak."
An earlier weak quake struck 20 kilometres south-east of Karamea at 4.41pm.
It measured magnitude 3.1.
Users on social media also reported feeling the quake.
That was a good shake. House in Newtown rattled and rolled. #eqnz #earthquake #wellington pic.twitter.com/bjPlxqKyAY
— Sue Teodoro (@SueTeodoro) January 20, 2024
Heard that earthquake way before it arrived. Sounded like a truck coming along the road and then the whole house started vibrating. #eqnz
— Hayley ☀️ (@LadyHayley_) January 20, 2024
yeah totally felt like earthquake weather out there #eqnz
— woburn gorman (@blue_raven) January 20, 2024
A pretty gentle wobble that #eqnz in central #Wellington, but got one's attention as it's been awhile.
— Kevin Sweeney (@kjsgeo) January 20, 2024
Felt that wobble on the Kāpiti Coast just now #eqnz
— Fleur Templeton (@templetonf) January 20, 2024
