Another earthquake shakes the North Island

Another earthquake struck the North Island and was felt on the East Coast, Coromandel, Bay of Plenty and the Auckland region.

GeoNet said the magnitude 4.8 earthquake occurred at 8.29 p.m., 130 kilometers northeast of Whangamata.

It was at a depth of 18 km and was recorded as “weak shaking”.

The shaking was felt as far away as Great Barrier Island.

Earlier today, a 5.2 magnitude earthquake gave some on the North Island a morning commotion.

The earthquake occurred at 3.47 am, 120 kilometers northeast of Whangamatā at a depth of 5 kilometers.

On GeoNet, more than 2,500 people reported feeling it.

GNS Science seismologist John Ristau told the Herald that shallow earthquakes, like the one this morning, often trigger aftershocks.

“There is the possibility of a larger aftershock that some people may feel,” he said.

“It wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility that there would be a magnitude four aftershock or maybe a little bit larger than four.”

However, Ristau said it was also possible that the aftershocks were small and that no one felt them.

Social media was awash with people claiming to have been woken up by the morning tremors.

Anthony Peters woke up in Clevedon and said “it felt like the washing machine was spinning and the house was shaking for about five seconds.”

Carla from Whangamatā said that both she and her husband woke up with a loud noise and jumped out of bed to investigate.

“I walked into my husband’s office, some things were off his shelves and on the floor,” Carla said.

“We couldn’t figure it out, I said it must have been an earthquake, not really believing it until the news this morning.”

Brian, who was on Waiheke Island, sent an email to say that he felt a slight shaking.

“I knew what it was right away. My first thought was if this was the big one that hit Wellington. Just what we need! Then I went back to sleep,” Brian said.

Glen Eden resident Susan Lucas said she woke up after feeling herself rolling in bed: “It feels so strange and yet excitingly different.”

Karen from Ararimu says she owes her 12-year-old son an apology after he walked into her room at 3.54am saying her room was shaking.

“I lifted my head off the pillow, I couldn’t feel or hear anything, so I told him not to be silly and to go back to bed,” Karen said.

“He was shocked and couldn’t go back to his room, so he jumped on our bed. Now that I’m reading the news this morning, I’ll have to apologize to him when he wakes up!”

Helen Fewings from Hikutaia said her husband felt a shake and thought the bed was floating in a pool at the time.

Auckland is rarely shaken by earthquakes, and while they are common in the Bay of Plenty, Ristau said they weren’t as far north as today.

The reason it was felt so strongly in Auckland, despite being some distance away, was simply because of the force of the earthquake.

“The last time there was anything of a reasonable size near Auckland was early 2019, when there were three magnitudes four,” he said.

“Those only had a couple hundred felt reports, not like the 2,500 we’ve had for this one, but it’s probably due to magnitude more than anything else.”