Strong quake risk now 2%

6:12 pm on 24 December 2012

It is almost 12 months since the last major earthquake in Canterbury and scientists say the risk of another large one is reducing all the time.

A shallow quake of magnitude 4.9 hit Christchurch on Boxing Day 2010, while another series of quakes measuring between magnitudes 5.5 and 6.2 struck the city on 23 December last year.

A GNS Duty seismologist, Caroline Little, says the frequency and magnitude of earthquakes over the past 12 months has shown a marked drop.

She says the chance of having a quake measuring between 6.5 and 6.9 in the next year has reduced to just 2%.