5.6-magnitude quake hits central New Zealand
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The tremor was felt widely across parts of the North Island and the upper South Island.
PHOTO: GEONET/TWITTER
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WELLINGTON - An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.6 jolted 75km north of French Pass, central New Zealand, at 11.53am local time (7.53am Singapore time) on Friday, according to the country’s geological hazard monitoring system GeoNet.
Residents in Wellington and other central New Zealand regions felt the shake, which was depicted as a “light earthquake” with a depth of 170km.
The quake struck as thousands of football fans were heading to Wellington Regional Stadium for the Women’s World Cup quarter-final clash between Spain and the Netherlands, which kicks off at 1pm, the New Zealand (NZ) Herald reported.
The tremor was felt widely across parts of the North Island and the upper South Island, with more than 20,000 reports from people, according to GeoNet.
In a tweet, GeoNet said, “shaking like this is a good reminder that earthquakes can occur anywhere in New Zealand at any time”.
“In the event of a large earthquake, remember to drop, cover and hold.”
The NZ Herald reported that one Christchurch resident who felt the shaking said it “brought back bad memories of (the February) 2011 (quake)”.
In 2011, a 6.3-magnitude quake hit the South Island city of Christchurch, killing 185 people – one of the tiny nation’s deadliest disasters of the modern era.
With Friday’s quake striking just over an hour before the Fifa quarter-final, senior writer for sports broadcaster ESPN Mark Odgen said it was a “minor drama” and the game would go ahead, reported the NZ Herald. XINHUA
