New Zealand

Quake near Paraparaumu rattles households

00:29 am on 26 January 2020

A 5.4 magnitude earthquake shortly before midnight on Saturday rattled households in central New Zealand.

Photo: 123rf

The shaking was widely felt over the central and southern North Island, and top of the South Island.

Within 35 minutes, more than 28,000 people recorded feeling it - on the Geonet website.

The quake was initially reported by Geonet as 100 kilometres deep and centred 45 kilometres north-west of Paraparaumu, at a quarter to midnight.

The depth was later revised to 64 kilometres, and the centre listed as 50 kilometres northwest of Paraparaumu, the same site as a 4.7 magnitude quake earlier in the evening.

The earlier one was 57 kilometres deep, at 27 minutes past 7.