5.6 magnitude earthquake hits near Blenheim - shakes felt in Wellington

Photo / file

A magnitude 5.6 earthquake shook the top of the South Island and bottom of the North Island this afternoon.

GeoNet have reported a magnitude 5.6 earthquake hit 35 km south-west of Blenheim just after 4pm.

GeoNet say the earthquake was 32 km deep.

People on social media reportedly felt it across the upper South Island and lower North Island including Wellington and Nelson, Palmerston North.

A shallow M5.6 earthquake near Blenheim caused a decent shake just now, mostly felt by people in the upper South Island and lower North Island. The shaking was strong in intensity, and we have received more than 15,000 felt reports.
For more detail see, https://t.co/9PHFPHu3oN. pic.twitter.com/eCb9jlZknw

— GeoNet (@geonet) February 21, 2022

While it was centred near Blenheim it was felt widely in Wellington and in Nelson, where it was described by some as a low, rolling rumble which made household items sway.

"Yikes," said one woman who felt the quake in Nelson.

The earth wants the protesters out of Welly too #eqnz #shakethemoff

— Nic (@NicNicNZ) February 21, 2022

Oooooo! A nice little #eqnz in Wellington. How many evil pestilences does this city need to roll out before the protesters realise this is a bad bad place to live in a tent? pic.twitter.com/RVhjQxIi46

— Sue Teodoro (@SueTeodoro) February 21, 2022

Quite a loud shake (or two!) in Kelburn. Now upgraded to 5.6, SW of Seddon https://t.co/BvrdDbNtND

— Fleur Templeton (@templetonf) February 21, 2022

First daytime #eqnz I've felt in a while. That one was a roller, eh?

— Laurie Winkless (@laurie_winkless) February 21, 2022

Time to go home and replenish the emergency earthquake water supplies we used up while the neighborhood was without water over the weekend #eqnz

— Marianne Elliott (she/her) (@zenpeacekeeper) February 21, 2022