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Strong earthquake rattles New Zealand's South Island
A strong earthquake shook New Zealand's South Island on Tuesday but there were no reports of injuries or major damage, officials and witnesses said.
The Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences said the tremor, measuring 7.2 on the open-ended Richter Scale, struck at 9:26 a.m. (3:26 p.m. EST Monday).
The government institute said it was centerd offshore 144 miles southwest of the town of Te Anau and 20 miles below ground level.
Geological and Nuclear Sciences seismologist Warwick Smith said the quake happened in an area of the ocean floor where two tectonic plates meet.
"This was a large earthquake in global terms. Had it occurred under or near a population center, there would be major damage," Smith said in a statement.
Witnesses described experiencing a slow, rolling motion in two waves not long after they arrived for work. There were reports of items falling off shelves in some towns.
"It was like a wind coming through, computer screens started to jolt, things rattled. It was a strong one," Detective Grant Miller told the NZPA from nearby Queenstown.
The quake was felt as far away as Hamilton on the North Island, 230 miles from the capital Wellington.
The same region was shaken by a quake registering 7.2 in August last year, which caused minor property damage.
New Zealand scientists record around 14,000 earthquakes a year, of which around 20 exceed 5.0 on the Richter scale.
The last fatal earthquake in the geologically active country, caught between the Pacific and Indo-Australian tectonic plates, was in 1968 when an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale killed three people on the South Island's west coast. |
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