List of earthquakes in New Zealand

Earthquakes in New Zealand are part of everyday life for New Zealanders due to their frequency , because they are always present. With an average of 20,000 registered earthquakes per year, 100 to 150 of them strong enough to become a perceived or even a serious threat, New Zealand is one of the most earthquake-rich countries on earth (see Global Seismic Monitor ).

As part of the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire off the North Island of New Zealand, the Pacific Plate slides under the Australian Plate from the east and slides on the South Island in the Alpine Fault in a southerly direction past its edge. On the North Island, this is reflected in the volcanic activity of White Island , Mount Tongariro , Mount Ngauruhoe and Mount Ruapehu , the bubbling pools of Rotorua and the peaks of the Ruahine Range , Tararua Range and the Remutaka Range . On the South Island this is visible through the folds of the New Zealand Alps, rising up to 3,724 meters, and New Zealand's highest mountain, the Aoraki / Mount Cook .

history

Long before Europeans came to New Zealand, the Māori had their specific experiences with the earthquakes in the land of the long white cloud , which vary in strength and occurrence . In the Māori language , earthquake means rū and the unsteady land rū whenua . Since there are no records of earthquakes from the time before the European settlement of New Zealand, one has to fall back on the stories and legends of the Iwi (tribes) affected . There have been records since the beginning of European settlement, that is, only from the year 1840.

According to the mythology of the Māori were God Heaven of rūaumoko (son of Ranginui ), and his wife Papatuanuku for earthquake and fire of the goddess of the Earth, volcanoes responsible. When he left, the earth shook. After the Europeans came into the country, this is said to have happened more often and more violently than before, as Thomas William Downes took from Māori reports in his book Old Whanganui . The Māori blamed the Europeans for the earthquakes, although stories of previous severe earthquakes have been passed down orally from them.

For example, there are reports of two major earthquakes in the area around Taupo and Rotorua , where, according to Rotorua tradition, a village with 1,000 people was swallowed up and turned the area into a lake. Since the Taupo Volcanic Zone is actually sinking slowly, an earthquake with such effects may well have taken place.

Most earthquake year in 2016

According to GeoNet , the geological network of the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences ( GNS Science ), 2016 was the year with the highest earthquakes since the network recorded 32,828 registered earthquakes. Two earthquakes with a magnitude of 7.0, 10 earthquakes with a magnitude between 6.0 and 6.9, 122 between 5.0 and 5.9, over 80,000 landslides, two tsunamis and a volcanic eruption, these are further parts of the balance sheet for the year 2016 that the geologists of the network that's why it was named " The Groundbreaker ".

List of major earthquakes

The list includes major earthquakes, all of which originated very close to the surface and are considered relevant.

Day	month	year	items	Starch (1)	epicenter	region	dead	Injured	Property damage	description
8th.	July	1843	Wanganui earthquake of 1843	7.5 M L	near Wanganui	Manawatu-Wanganui	2			Building damage and landslides
16.	October	1848	Marlborough earthquake of 1848	7.7 M W	Awatere Fault	Marlborough	3			Destruction of brick and stone houses in Wellington and Nelson
23.	January	1855	Wairarapa earthquake of 1855	8.2 M W	about 20 km southeast of Wellington	Wellington	9			Also known as the Wellington quake : land elevations up to 6.4 meters, in Wellington Harbor between 1.2 and 2.5 meters.
23.	February	1863	Hawke's Bay earthquake of 1863	7.5		Hawke's Bay
19th	October	1868	Cape Farewell earthquake of 1868	7.5		Tasman
1.	September	1888	North Canterbury earthquake of 1888	7.1 M W	Hope Fault	Canterbury	-			Building damage, land displacement and landslides; Foreshock for three weeks
12.	February	1893	Nelson earthquake of 1893	6.9		Nelson
16.	November	1901	1901 Cheviot earthquake	6.9	near Cheviot	Canterbury	1
9.	March	1929	Arthur's Pass earthquake of 1929	7.1  M S	Arthur's Pass	Canterbury	-
17th	June	1929	1929 Murchison earthquake	7.8 M S	Lyell Range, near Murchison	West coast	17th		NZ $ 236 million	Also called Buller quake designated
3.	February	1931	Hawke's Bay earthquake of 1931	7.8 M S	Aropaoanui, 20 km north of Napier	Hawke's Bay	258	<3,000	NZ $ 512 million	Also known as the Napier quake , Napier and Hastings were partially completely destroyed
13.	February	1931	Hawke's Bay earthquake of 1931	7.3 M S		Hawke's Bay	-			Destructive aftershocks
15th	September	1932	Wairoa earthquake of 1932	6.9		Hawke's Bay
5.	March	1934	Pahiatua earthquake of 1934	7.6		Manawatu-Wanganui
24.	June	1942	Wairarapa earthquake of 1942	7.2 M S	Wairarapa near Masterton	Wellington	1	2		noticeable from Auckland to Dunedin
2.	August	1942	Wairarapa earthquake of 1942	7.0 M S	Wairarapa near Carterton	Wellington	-
24.	May	1968	1968 Inangahua earthquake	7.1 M W	near Īnangahua	West coast	3		NZ $ 39 million	50 bridges damaged or destroyed, location was evacuated
2.	March	1987	1987 Edgecumbe earthquake	6.5 M W	between Thornton and Matata	Bay of Plenty	-	25th	NZ $ 315 million	One of the earthquakes with the greatest financial consequences, a lot of damage in the industrial sector
6th	February	1995	1995 East Cape earthquake	7.0		Gisborne
22nd	August	2003	2003 Fiordland earthquake	7.2 M W	10 km northwest of Secretary Island	Southland	-			Mountain landslides and minor damage in Te Anau
20th	December	2007	2007 Gisborne earthquake	6.7  M L	Hikurangi Trough , 50 km southeast of Gisborne	Gisborne	1	11
15th	July	2009	Dusky Sound 2009 earthquake	7.8 M W	Dusky sound	Southland	-		~ NZ $ 5.7 million	Noticeably as far as Sydney , Australia
4th	September	2010	2010 Darfield earthquake	7.1 M W	Darfield , 25 miles west of Christchurch	Canterbury	-	2	an estimated NZ $ 5 to 6 billion	Up until then, the earthquake with the greatest financial consequences in New Zealand's history
22nd	February	2011	2011 Christchurch earthquake	6.3 M W	Lyttelton , 10 km southeast of Christchurch center	Canterbury	185	4,460	to date, NZ $ 16 billion in insurance defaults	Seismologically classified as an aftershock of the Darfield earthquake. Because of the proximity to the city and the shallower depth of the hypocenter, considerably more deaths and damage to buildings than in the September quake
14th	November	2016	Kaikoura earthquake	7.8	15 km northeast of Culverden	Canterbury	2			Several faults in the northeast of the South Island were involved in the quake, which lasted over two and a half minutes and developed from its place of origin to the northeast.

(1) - unless otherwise stated, the magnitude M _s on the surface wave magnitude scale

See also

• List of disasters
• Earthquake Commission
• GeoNet

literature

• David M. Johnson, Lisa J. Pearse : Hazards in Hawke's Bay . Ed .: Hawke's Bay Regional Council . Napier 2007, ISBN 1-877405-13-2 (English).
• Nicola McCloy : New Zealand Disasters . Whitcoulls Ltd. , Auckland 2004, ISBN 1-877327-34-4 (English).
• Rebecca Ansell, John Taber : Caught in the Crunch - Earthquakes and Volcanoes in New Zealand . HarperCollinsPublishers (NZ) Ltd. , Auckland 1996, ISBN 1-86950-201-9 (English).

Web links

• Large New Zealand Earthquakes . GNS Science ,accessed March 12, 2011. 
• Historical Earthquakes . GeoNet - GNS Science ,accessed April 7, 2013. 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Sara McBride : 2016 in review: The Groundbreaker . GeoNet - GNS Science , January 1, 2017, accessed on January 2, 2017 .  
2. ^ Earthquake - Introduction . Earthquake Commission (EQC) , archived from the original on June 26, 2012 ; accessed on January 21, 2016 (English, owner of the domain has changed and original website is no longer available).  
3. ↑ Automatic GEOFON Global Seismic Monitor . GFZ Potzdam , accessed on March 1, 2010 (English).  
4. ↑ rū . Maori Dictionary , accessed April 28, 2019 .  
5. ↑ M 8.2 - 8.3, Wairarapa, January 23, 1855 . GeoNet - GNS Science , accessed April 7, 2013 .  
6. ↑ ^{a b} Earthquakes in Māori tradition . Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand , accessed March 1, 2010 .  
7. ↑ Thomas William Downes : Old Whanganui . Parkinson , Hawera 1915 (English).
8. ^ Geology - Overview - Uplift of New Zealand . Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand , accessed March 1, 2010 .  
9. ↑ Quake blow to economic prospects . Otago Daily Times , February 24, 2011, accessed February 24, 2011 .  
10. ^ List of deceased . New Zealand Police , February 9, 2012, accessed February 14, 2012 .  
11. ↑ Noah Buhayar, Jacob Greber, Nichola Saminather : New Zealand Quake May Be Cost Reads Disaster Since 2008 (2) . Blomberg , February 23, 2011, accessed April 28, 2019 .  
12. ↑ New Zealand Earthquake Report - Magnitude 7.8, Mon, Nov 14 2016, 12:02:56 am (NZDT) . In: GeoNet . Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences , November 14, 2016, accessed November 23, 2016 .  
13. ↑ Earthquake: Deaths, major damage after severe 7.5 quake hits Hanmer Springs, tsunami warning issued . In: stuff - national . Fairfax Media , November 14, 2016, accessed November 13, 2016 .