An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.4 struck central New Zealand
just after midnight on Monday (11am on Sunday Irish time), the US
Geological Survey said, generating a tsunami that hit the northeast
coast of the South Island.
New Zealand’s Ministry
of Civil Defence and Emergency Management warned of the risk of
destructive waves along the country’s entire east coast and urged
residents in low-lying areas to evacuate and seek higher ground.
Anna
Kaiser, a seismologist at GNS Science said a tidal signal or surge of
up to one metre (3ft) had been recorded in the North Canterbury region
of the South Island.
“That’s reasonably significant so people should take this seriously,” she told Radio New Zealand.
The
quake was centred 91km (57 miles) north-northeast of Christchurch, the
biggest city on New Zealand’s South Island. A 6.3 quake there in
February 2011 killed 185 people and caused widespread damage.
Civil defence said it was too early to assess the damage or whether there had been any injuries or deaths.
“The
whole house rolled like a serpent and some things smashed, the power
went out,” a woman who gave her name as Elizabeth told Radio New Zealand
(RNZ) from her home in Takaka, near the top of the South Island.
Chris
Hill, a fire officer in Cheviot, a coastal town near the quake’s
epicentre, said officials had gone door to door evacuating residents.
“Everyone seems okay here,” he told RNZ. “There’s a lot of debris in
houses, but at this stage it doesn’t look like anything too bad has
happened.”
Residents in Wellington said glass had fallen from buildings into the streets.
Reuters
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