Reviewed by USGSNew Zealand69y ago
M6.2 earthquake 129 km WNW of Te Anau, New Zealand
Tuesday, December 31, 1957, 14:28:20 UTC · 45.062°S, 166.148°E
A magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck 129 km WNW of Te Anau, New Zealand on Tuesday, December 31, 1957, 14:28:20 UTC, at a depth of 25.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M7.5 on September 1, 1945.
- Magnitude
- 6.2
- Strong · mw
- Depth
- 25 km
- Shallow
- Felt reports
- 0
- Did You Feel It?
- Est. shaking
- —
- No ShakeMap
- PAGER alert
- None
- Not issued
- Tsunami
- No flag
- USGS feed
Outlined circle: this earthquake
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
26 kilotons of TNT
That is about 2 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 55 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
44 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Pacific and Australian plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
Depth: shallow
25 km
Shallow earthquakes (under 70 km) produce the strongest surface shaking for their size, so they are the ones most likely to cause damage near the epicenter.
Did You Feel It?
Where it was felt
No “Did You Feel It?” reports have been published for this event yet. If you felt it, you can add your report on the USGS website.
I felt it — report to USGS ↗USGS PAGER estimate
Who was exposed to shaking
USGS publishes PAGER impact estimates for significant earthquakes, usually within an hour. No PAGER estimate is available for this event.
After the main event
Aftershocks within 100 km
USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 100 km in the 30 days after this event.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists 6 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 7.5173 km WSW of Riverton, New ZealandSeptember 1, 1945 · 215 km S of this epicenter
- 7.015 km WNW of Te Anau, New ZealandDecember 16, 1938 · 113 km E of this epicenter
- 6.762 km WNW of Te Anau, New ZealandAugust 2, 1943 · 67 km E of this epicenter
- 6.6115 km WNW of Te Anau, New ZealandDecember 16, 1938 · 35 km NE of this epicenter
- 6.280 km WSW of Te Anau, New ZealandApril 20, 1939 · 80 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.153 km NNW of Wanaka, New ZealandOctober 13, 1947 · 241 km E of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 1 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700. The most severe:
- 1826M8.0
Fjordland
1826 · 87 km away
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.