Central North Island rocked by 5.6 magnitude earthquake

Central North Island residents were woken by a big late-night earthquake - and dozens of aftershocks have been reported since.

A 5.6 magnitude quake struck about 20km southwest of Taupō shortly before midnight, at a depth of 5km.

More than 5000 people have reported feeling the quake on Geonet.

Oruanui resident Beth, in her 70s, told Newstalk ZB: “Never felt anything like it before. Things fell down and next thing I could hear water.

“It shook the hot boiler so violently it’s ruptured all the pipes at the top. Water was spraying all over the floor down and through the carpet.

“First thing I did was dive into the room and get my grandson - he looked quite frightened. And then I ran outside in the dark to turn the water off.”

Taupō had a strong shake with several aftershocks this evening – a shallow M5.3 was felt widely by 5000+ people at 11:47 PM. Earthquakes are common for this area at VAL1. Remember, if you’re in bed when an earthquake occurs, Stay, Cover and Hold. https://t.co/Xo2KIeIBLf #eqnz pic.twitter.com/UO1vez6Et1

— GeoNet (@geonet) November 30, 2022

Taupō resident Karen felt the quake.

She, her family and their newborn baby got “shaken up pretty badly”.

”We’ve been through the big quake in Whakatāne years ago and this was not nice. It was a complete reminder of what we went through back then.”

Taupō local Stacey Fox, whose house is on a hill, said it shook all night; breaking glass and spilling books and cans from the pantry onto the floor.

Taupō resident Stacey Fox said his house shook all night. Photo / Supplied

CCTV security footage showed the moment the quake hit at the Asian Sari-sari store.

Just after 11.48pm, items on the shelves start to shake; before some fall to the ground.

Products at the Asian Sari-sari fly off the shelves as a 5.6 magnitude earthquake strikes Taupō. Video / JhuVal Gabayan

Dozens of aftershocks reported since

By 5.23am, there had been at least 29 aftershocks since the big quake.

The biggest aftershock was reported at 12.40am as a 4.5 magnitude shake at a depth of 5km about 20km southwest of Taupō.

Those who felt the quake have also taken to social media to share their experiences.

On the GeoNet Facebook page, Taupō local Brittany Rose said: “Was that a good one. Still rumbling here for [the] past hour and hasn’t stopped.”

Katie Howie said over at her house, drawers “flew open” when the quake struck.

That was “a biggie”, she wrote.

Taupō resident Les Pepper said last night’s shakes brought back memories of being in the 1987 Edgecumbe earthquake.

Pepper, who lives in the Rangatira Park area, said they usually get regular small earthquakes. But last night was different.

“This one woke me up in a real rush. Our two-story house was rocking and creaking. I could hear things falling off of shelves,” he said.

”I hope this isn’t the volcanic events in the lake starting to ramp up. We lived through the Edgecumbe earthquakes whilst based at Matahina hydro power station. It’s brought a lot of those memories back.”

Pepper said things had settled down this morning and there appeared to be no major damage on his street.

Earthquake activity ‘sharply increased’ overnight

Taupō Volcano's seismicity has sharply increased overnight with a strong M5.6 earthquake within the volcano's caldera @ 11:47pm NZT, 30 Nov
There has been over 150 quakes in the last 12 hrs. Since April’s unrest started, 1000+ earthquakes have been recorded. Status Alert level 1 pic.twitter.com/S11mVHYiqp

— Hauraki Gulf Weather (@GulfHauraki) November 30, 2022

Taupō Volcano’s seismicity - the occurence or frequency of earthquakes in a region - had “sharply increased” overnight, as a result of the 5.6 magnitude quake.

Hauraki Gulf Weather reported about 6.30am that there had been over 150 earthquakes in the area in the last 12 hours.

“Since April’s unrest started, 1000 (plus) earthquakes have been recorded,” according to the site.