An earthquake of magnitude 6 on the open Richter scale has shaken the two large islands of New Zealand on Wednesday, authorities have confirmed, with no reports of casualties or material damage for the moment.
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) of New Zealand has indicated that the earthquake, which has described as «a big shake», had its epicenter about 50 kilometers northwest of Paraparaumu, with the hypocenter at 57 kilometers deep. «It has been widely felt in the North Island,» he stressed on his account on the social network Twitter.
According to the information collected by the New Zealand newspaper ‘The New Zealand Herald’, a total of 60,000 people have felt the earthquake on both islands, including residents in Auckland and Christchurch. The NEMA has noted that there is no risk of tsunami, as published by the Wellington Region Emergency Management Office on its Facebook account.
The earthquake has taken place days after one of magnitude 4.4 on the Richter scale with epicenter near Gisborne and at a time when the north of the country suffers the scourge of cyclone ‘Gabrielle’, which has so far left four dead. The authorities have also evacuated thousands of people due to the floods, which have destroyed hundreds of infrastructures in the country.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
