Boom!

We've just had another decent earthquake. After some confused reports, Geonet has settled on a magnitude 6.2 quake, 8km deep and 10km south-east of Seddon.

From reports we've seen on Twitter, this one has been felt more strongly than the Sunday afternoon quake of a few weeks ago. We've seen reports from of it being felt from Auckland to Christchurch.

Here's hoping that there is minimal damage and injury in the Wellington CBD which will have been busy on a weekday afternoon. This was a significant 'quake by anyone's standards.

UPDATED: The Crab Shack on Wellington's waterfront didn't escape unscathed. But that bloke finishing his drink looks to be one unflappable dude!

 

How a shaky day unfolded

We've just spotted this on YouTube; a graphic depicting 24 hours of earthquakes in and around Cook Strait:

The sequence of earthquakes after the 6.5 magnitude 'quake at 5.09pm would be impressive if it wasn't so alarming! We recently downloaded the Geonet app on our iPhone, and it has certainly been humming in the last 15 hours.

And in the meantime, workers in central Wellington have been given the DCMM; Don't Come on Monday Morning. Civil Defence officials are urging people to stay away from the Wellington CBD until after midday today to allow an army of engineers to move in and check damaged buildings while broken glass and fallen masonry are cleaned up. Trains are on hold, but Wellington Airport has reopened.

Hang in there Wellington.

Whoompah!

We've just felt a very strong and very long earthquake. Initial reports from Geonet are of a magnitude 6.5 'quake at a depth of 17km; stronger than the 6.3 Christchurch 'quake of 22 February 2013, but a little deeper.

There are already some reports coming in of damage in and around Wellington, and Wellington Airport is currently closed. There have already been several aftershocks including a 5.5 magnitude jolt just a couple of minutes ago.

Here's how Geonet recorded the 'quake:

To those directly affected; hang in there. The earthquake was bad enough up here on our Wanganui hilltop that we wouldn't have wanted to be any closer to the epicentre. We'll have updates as they come to hand.


UPDATE: Here's a few images from the web:
 

Damage to the wharves at Centreport in Wellington

Fallen masonry in Featherson Street

The librarians at Victoria University's law library have some work ahead of them