Magnitude-6.9 Earthquake Strikes North of New Zealand

Bloomberg (Link) (February 19, 2009)

A magnitude-6.9 earthquake struck in the vicinity of the Kermadec Islands north of New Zealand at 9:53 a.m. local time, the U.S. Geological Survey said. There were no immediate reports of a tsunami after a warning was issued. The temblor hit today at a depth of 25 kilometers (16 miles) about 250 kilometers northeast of Raoul Island in the Kermadec group, the USGS said. The epicenter was 1,335 kilometers northeast of Auckland.

There was no threat of a large-scale tsunami swamping coastlines around the Pacific, though a surge was possible within 100 kilometers of the quake, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. There were no reports of casualties or damage. It was the third quake of magnitude-6 or higher to hit the region since December, according to the USGS.

The Kermadec Islands are part of New Zealand’s biggest marine reserve and are uninhabited except for employees of the Department of Conservation who run a weather station there, according to the department’s Web site. The weather station is located on Raoul, the northernmost of the chain.

The islands lie in an area where the Pacific and the Indo- Australian Plates meet. These tectonic plates are constantly shifting, sometimes causing earthquakes that can spark tsunamis. Magnitude-5 or stronger quakes can be destructive depending on their depth.