Thousands of people have reported feeling a 6.9 magnitude earthquake which hit near the Kermadec Islands this afternoon.
The tremor, centred south of the Kermadec Islands, was initially reported as 6.8 magnitude but has been revised to 6.9, GNS Science said.
LATEST: M6.9 quake 785km north-east of Whakatane has been reviewed by our duty officer. The Kermadec area quake was ~130km deep. It triggered a number of ghost quakes locally. Some smaller, real quakes have occurred since too. #eqnz https://t.co/KA7C71EiiE
— GeoNet (@geonet) September 10, 2018
In a tweet, New Zealand Civil Defence said there was no tsunami threat to New Zealand.
There is no tsunami threat to New Zealand following the 6.8M earthquake SOUTH OF THE KERMADEC ISLANDS at 4.19pm.
— MCDEM (@NZcivildefence) September 10, 2018
Based on current information, the initial assessment is that the quake is unlikely to have caused a tsunami that will pose a threat to New Zealand #eqnz
GeoNet said the quake could be felt across the country, from the East Coast to the South Island.
Seismologist John Ristau said even though the GNS automated system reported several small earthquakes in New Zealand, it was not the case.
"People aren't imagining that they felt anything, they did feel it. They're just feeling this large earthquake that's a few hundred kilometres away, north of the North Island."
