21 Feb 2016

Strong, shallow earthquake near Mt Cook

3:18 pm on 21 February 2016

There was a strong earthquake north-west of Mt Cook late this morning.

The 4.4 magnitude quake was a shallow one, at a depth of just 4 kilometres.

It was centred 30km north-west of Mt Cook.

There have also been two weaker quakes today, of magnitude 2.7 and 2.2, 10 kilometres to the east of Christchurch.

The Mt Cook shake follows last Sunday's 5.7 magnitude quake just east of Christchurch.

It also comes shortly after another jolt on the Alpine Fault - a 5.7 magnitude quake near St Arnaud on 9 February.