A 5.6 magnitude earthquake has struck 30km north west of Wanaka, on the South Island of New Zealand. Hundreds of people felt tremors, registered by the local geological hazard information service as “severe.”
There were no immediate reports of damage after the initial quake struck at 2:29pm local time. The USGS registered the depth of the quake at 10km.A second and lighter 3.4 tremor followed about 10 minutes later. It was located 20km west of Wanaka at a depth of 11km.“It gave us all a bit of a shock,” Wanaka Tourism Office general manager James Helmore told Fairfax NZ News, as shaking persisted for some 15 seconds.
“There may be some minor damage in plastering” he said, but there was none he could see at that moment.
Local media is also reporting evacuation at the Wanaka Puzzling World attraction park.
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