Very strong M7.1 earthquake hits Kermadec Islands, New Zealand
Image credit: TW/SAM, Google
A very strong earthquake registered by the USGS as M7.1 hit the Kermadec Islands region, New Zealand at 00:41 UTC on April 24, 2023. The agency is reporting a depth of 49 km (30 miles). EMCS is reporting M7.1 at a depth of 40 km (24.8 miles).
The epicenter was located 921.1 km (572.3 miles) NNE of Hicks Bay, Gisborne, New Zealand, and 1014.8 km (630.6 miles) SSW of Nuku‘alofa, Tongatapu, Tonga.
The USGS issued a Green alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses. There is a low likelihood of casualties and damage.
Overall, the population in this region resides in structures that are highly resistant to earthquake shaking, though some vulnerable structures exist. The predominant vulnerable building types are reinforced masonry and unreinforced brick with timber floor construction.
Small tsunami waves were registered at Raoul Island:
GAUGE TIME OF MAXIMUM WAVE
COORDINATES MEASURE TSUNAMI PERIOD
GAUGE LOCATION LAT LON (UTC) HEIGHT (MIN)
-------------------------------------------------------------
RAOUL IS BOAT COVE 29.3S 177.9W 0054 0.09M/ 0.3FT 06
FISHING ROCK RAOUL 29.3S 177.9W 0057 0.11M/ 0.4FT 06
The quake was preceded by M4.9 at 16:24 UTC and M5.0 at 16:51 UTC on April 23, and followed by M5.4 at 01:05 UTC, M5.3 at 01:51 UTC, and M4.9 at 07:28 UTC.
Regional seismicity
Teo Blašković founded The Watchers in 2011 and edited it until 2026, covering seismic and volcanic activity, extreme weather, space weather and near-Earth objects. Articles on this page are his archive.
