People in New Zealand were advised to stay away from the shore after a 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck off the South Island’s coast on Tuesday.
At 2.43pm local time, the quake struck at a depth of 33 kilometers off the southwest coast of the island’s Fiordland national park, approximately 160 kilometers northwest of Snares Islands. Although officials issued a “tsunami advisory,” it stated that no evacuation orders were required unless directed by local authorities.
The National Emergency Management Agency issued a notice warning people to leave their boats and stay out of the water, stating that “coastal inundation (flooding of land areas near the shore) is not expected as a result of this event”.
It stated that remote areas of Fiordland’s coast were most likely to be affected. “Strong currents and surges can cause injuries and drownings. The agency warned that swimmers, surfers, fishermen, and anyone else in or near the water close to shore are in danger.
“People in or near the sea in the following areas should leave the water, stay away from beaches and shorelines, and avoid harbours, marinas, rivers, and estuaries.”
“People on boats, liveaboards, and in marinas should leave their boats/vessels and move to shore. “Do not return to the boats unless instructed by officials.”
The threatened areas extend along the west coast of the South Island, from Milford Sound to Puysegur Point.
Aly Curd, civil defence controller for Emergency Management Southland, stated that there was no threat of a tsunami to the Southland coast.
The Australian National Weather Bureau also confirmed that there was no tsunami threat to the mainland, islands, or territories.
Thousands of people in New Zealand said they felt the earthquake. “We had items fall off the shelf. The outdoor wooden table is dancing,” a user wrote on Facebook, according to the New Zealand Herald.
“Students were evacuated to a field and clearing area, and we were instructed to walk to the old hospital, where buses would arrive in due course,” a Te Waewae Bay resident teaching in Riverton told the outlet. “A few of us are at the pub sharing stories.”
Mark Hewton, the owner of Tuatapere Four Square, said the earthquake struck suddenly. “It was a soft, rolling earthquake. It was not aggressive. “It wasn’t enough to cause any damage that I know of,” he told RNZ News.
“The entire staff felt it, and it was definitely enough to make you stop what you were doing and consider getting under a door or something.
“We haven’t felt one like that for quite a wee while.”
New Zealand is situated on the seismically active “Ring of Fire,” a 40,000-kilometer arc of volcanoes and ocean trenches that surrounds much of the Pacific Ocean.
Experts said the earthquake struck a region with limited scientific understanding but a high tsunami risk. It occurred near the Puysegur Trench, a tectonic plate boundary where the Australian plate sinks beneath the Pacific plate.
This boundary stretches over 800 kilometers southward from the South Island into the remote Southern Ocean, approximately 400 kilometers west of the Auckland Islands.
“There is still much we don’t know about this area,” seismologist Dr. Finn Illsley-Kemp told the New Zealand Herald. Researchers at Victoria University, including his colleagues, have been studying the region.
“Compared to other areas, it has received far less scientific attention, leaving uncertainties about its tectonic behaviour – yet it has produced some of our most powerful earthquakes.”
