Hawke’s Bay earthquake: Residents say 4.9 quake hit them hard, scientist explains why

A combination of factors played a part in why a 4.9-magnitude earthquake was so strongly felt across Hawke’s Bay yesterday, a scientist says.

One resident near the epicentre said it felt “like a truck hitting” and was the strongest shake he could recall in decades.

The 4.9 earthquake hit 20km south of Hastings, near the Central Hawke’s Bay communities of Elsthorpe and Kairakau, at 5.53pm on Wednesday at a depth of 30km.

No emergency incidents were reported by police and fire services, and Central Hawke’s Bay District Council reported no damage to its infrastructure.

The last time the region suffered earthquake damage was from a 5.9 tremor that struck near Pōrangahau in 2023, sending beer bottles sliding at a pub and causing a small landslip on one road.

Almost 6000 people reported feeling the latest quake, including some from the South Island.

Earth Science NZ seismic duty officer and seismologist Florent Aden said “multiple factors” played a part in the way the earthquake was felt, including proximity to the event, depth and “site effects”, which was “basically what is under your feet”.

“In Hawke’s Bay, and in particular Hastings and Napier, there are a lot of sedimentary deposits and this tends to amplify seismic waves.”

Different earthquakes had different ways of shaking, depending on the “mechanism” or way in which each side of the fault moved.

The depth of 30km was fairly common, and so too was an aftershock being felt, as was the case yesterday, he said.

Scientists could not predict when a strong earthquake was going to hit, but typically “we can expect this aftershock sequence to quickly die down” and return to a “background” rate.

The epicentre of Wednesday night's earthquake, which was felt widely across Hawke's Bay. Photo / GeoNet

He said earthquakes occurred regularly around New Zealand, which was sometimes referred to as a background rate.

Mangakuri Beach resident George Williams lives “just over the hill” from the epicentre of the latest quake.

“It was just the two of us [in the house] here, and it just started doing a little bit of a rattle.

“We both sort of looked at each other, then it just hit like a truck hitting.

“We had quite a few things fall off shelves.

“We are used to earthquakes [from time to time], but it was quite a different one from what we’ve felt before.”

He said it lasted about 20 seconds, and they had a few broken ornaments, but nothing worse.

It was the biggest shake he or his family had felt in the region since about the 1990s.

Another resident, Jerry Flay, said: “In 13 years in Hawke’s Bay, that was easily the biggest shake I have experienced.”

What to do in an earthquake

Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management Group director Shane Briggs said it was a timely reminder of what to do in an emergency.

“During any shaking, immediately drop, cover, and hold to protect yourself.

“If the shaking is long or strong, get gone — move quickly to higher ground or inland away from the coast."

Long is considered a minute or more, and strong means it is difficult to stand.

Briggs encouraged people to check the group’s website to see whether they lived in the blue tsunami evacuation zone, and to plan a route to safety.