The quake hit just before 7 a.m. on Tuesday, with its epicentre located 30 kilometres west of Arthur’s Pass at a depth of some 5 km. There were also over 30 aftershocks following the initial strike. The largest one struck at 12.23 p.m. and was recorded by Geonet as a magnitude-4.7 aftershock, also located west of Arthur’s Pass and at the same depth.
A spokesperson for the Earthquake Commission said that by mid-afternoon there had been only a handful of claims submitted for damage resulting from the quake. There had been fewer than 20 calls, most from Christchurch and the Canterbury area.
Meanwhile, GNS Science spokesperson Caroline Little said it was a significant earthquake. “On average we would only get two quakes in the 6-6.9 range in New Zealand a year,” she said.”And 5km is quite a shallow quake.”
Fiona Neale of the Arthur’s Pass Alpine Motel, who had lived through the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, said she got “quite a jolt.” “I was asleep, but a quake like that will wake you up,” she added.
KiwiRail closed railway lines in the area in the aftermath of the quake to ascertain if damage had been sustained. Bus replacements were arranged for passengers, while freight services resumed on the reopened lines.
The earthquake-prone country New Zealand sits on the edge of the so-called Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’ where continental plates collide, resulting in frequent seismic and volcanic activity. The nation records some 20,000 tremors annually, with on average fewer than three with a magnitude 6.0 or above.
In 2011, 185 people perished when a devastating magnitude 6.3 earthquake hit Christchurch in one of New Zealand’s deadliest disasters in modern times.
