Reviewed by USGSNew Zealand113y ago
M7.0 earthquake 44 km N of Whakatane, New Zealand
Sunday, November 22, 1914, 08:14:30 UTC · 37.563°S, 176.906°E
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck 44 km N of Whakatane, New Zealand on Sunday, November 22, 1914, 08:14:30 UTC, at a depth of 275.0 km (intermediate). No earthquake of this size or larger appears within 300 km in the USGS catalog since 1900.
- Magnitude
- 7.0
- Major · mB
- Depth
- 275 km
- Intermediate
- 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
477 kilotons of TNT
That is about 32 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 1,000 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
15 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Kermadec and Australian plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
Depth: intermediate
275 km
Intermediate-depth earthquakes usually break inside a plate that is sinking into the mantle. Shaking spreads over a wide area but is gentler at the epicenter than a shallow quake of the same size.
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 200 km
USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 200 km in the 30 days after this event.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists 1 M5.0+ earthquake within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 6 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 1 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1914
North Island
6 Oct 1914 · 117 km away · intensity VIII
1 deathModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
- 1880M7.0
Gisborne
8 Sep 1880 · 222 km away
tsunami
- 1891M6.2
New Zealand
22 Jun 1891 · 222 km away
tsunami
- 1895M6.0
Taupo
18 Aug 1895 · 159 km away
tsunami
- 1855M5.5
New Zealand
11 Feb 1855 · 192 km away
tsunami
- 1831
North Island: Poverty Bay
1831 · 159 km away
tsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.