Did you feel it? Magnitude 5.9 earthquake rocks North Island
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake was felt across the North Island and upper South Island.
The earthquake occurred at 10.58am, 210 kilometres below the King Country.
More than 25,000 people have registered feeling the earthquake.
Geonet says these deep earthquakes are typically widely felt, but usually not close to the epicentre.
"This is due to the subducting tectonic plate under the North Island – most of the earthquake’s energy travels up and along the plate to the surface."
Large, deep earthquakes beneath the central and western North Island are not uncommon.
"In fact, a M6.2 at a similar depth and location was one of the first large earthquakes recorded by the National Geohazards Monitoring Centre after they began operations at GNS back in October 2018."
