Second Earthquake rocks New Zealand
Pastor Dale Morgan
Second Earthquake rocks New Zealand*
10/04/2007 07:22 Source: AP ©
Homes across wide areas of New Zealand were rocked by two moderate
earthquakes, but no victims or damages were reported.
The first quake hit at 8:15 a.m. Thursday (1915 GMT Wednesday) on South
Island, 150 kilometers (94 miles) north of the southern city of
Christchurch, geological sciences agency GNS Science reported on its Web
site.
The 5.6-magnitude temblor, which occurred 70 kilometers (44 miles) below
the Earth's surface, was "widely felt in South Island," it said, and
also lightly rocked the capital, Wellington, and southern North Island.
It was followed 11 hours later by a 5.7-magnitude quake near the eastern
North Island city of Tauranga at 7:17 p.m. (0617 GMT) and was likely
felt throughout central and northern North Island, authorities said.
There were no immediate reports of damage from the temblor, located some
280 kilometers (175 miles) below the surface.
The earthquakes were the second and third major temblors in New Zealand
in a week, following a 7.4 quake in the Southern Ocean near its Auckland
Islands territory on Sunday. No damage was reported from that shake,
which triggered a 20 centimeter (8 inch) tsunami wave that lapped the
shoreline of Tasmania, a southern island of Australia.
GNS duty seismologist Bryan Field said Thursday's South Island quake was
moderate and may have caused some minor damage, but "it's no way near
the massive one we had down south last week."
In the farming and tourism town of Hanmer Springs, 40 kilometers (25
miles) from Thursday's first quake epicenter, supermarket manager Kelly
Steele said some goods fell from shelves during the shaking, but nothing
had been damaged.
The quake "started with a bit of a rumble" before it hit, she said,
adding "you could hear it rattling away."
New Zealand sits above an area of the Earth's crust where the Pacific
and Australian tectonic plates are colliding and records more than
14,000 earthquakes a year - but only about 150 are felt by residents.
Fewer than 10 a year do any damage.