Reviewed by USGSNew Zealand123y ago
M6.9 earthquake 144 km SE of Waipawa, New Zealand
Monday, August 8, 1904, 22:50:33 UTC · 42.185°S, 176.917°E
A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck 144 km SE of Waipawa, New Zealand on Monday, August 8, 1904, 22:50:33 UTC, at a depth of 30.0 km (shallow). No earthquake of this size or larger appears within 300 km in the USGS catalog since 1900.
- Magnitude
- 6.9
- Strong · ms
- Depth
- 30 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
338 kilotons of TNT
That is about 22 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 708 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
51 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Kermadec and Pacific plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
Depth: shallow
30 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 no earlier M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km.
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 5 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 3 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1848M6.0
Awatere River, Marlborough
18 Oct 1848 · 248 km away
3 deathstsunami
- 1855M8.0
Wellington,Waiouru,Wanganui,Otaki
23 Jan 1855 · 190 km away
Severe damage ($5–24M)tsunami
- 1848M7.9
N.
15 Oct 1848 · 223 km away
Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami
- 1904M7.5
E Of North Island
8 Aug 1904 · 187 km away
tsunami
- 1845
N. New Zealand
5 Jul 1845 · 296 km away
tsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.