The New Zealanders woke up on their coast last night with a magnitude 6.9 earthquake, which triggered a brief tsunami alert, apparently without any damage or damage.
The quake struck 180 km northeast of Gisborne at 2:27 a.m. Friday (1:27 p.m.).
This was strongly felt on the North Island of New Zealand. More than 50,000 people have reported this to the local surveillance app Geonet.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, based in Hawaii, USA, first issued a tsunami alert for some coastal areas of the North Island before it was lifted.
“Tsunami waves of 0.3 to 1 meter are possible,” the center initially warned.
As a precaution, the New Zealand National Emergency Operations Management Authority advised residents of northern Gisborne to take refuge in the highlands before raising the alarm.
“According to the latest scientific recommendations and information from the Coastal Tsunami Indicators, there is no longer any danger,” the authority said. “The evictees can go home now.”
No damage or casualties were reported.
Prime Minister Jacinta Arden was one of the victims. “I hope everyone is doing better there – especially on the east coast who should have felt the full force of this earthquake,” he wrote on Instagram.
Located in the New Zealand Pacific “Ring of Fire”, it is the junction of tectonic plates with strong seismic and volcanic activity.
The South Pacific recently marked the 10th anniversary of the 6.3 magnitude earthquake in Christchurch, which killed 185 people in a South Island city.
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