Contact | RSS | EN | DE | EL | ES | FR | IT | RU

Very strong mag. 6.5 earthquake - South Pacific Ocean, New Zealand, on Wednesday, Mar 15, 2023 at 12:56 pm (GMT -12) -

Overview | Quake Data | Interactive map | NEW: Seismograms | User reports | Aftershocks | Earlier quakes here | Quakes in New Zealand
Very strong mag. 6.5 earthquake - South Pacific Ocean, New Zealand, on Wednesday, Mar 15, 2023 at 12:56 pm (GMT -12) Very strong mag. 6.5 earthquake - South Pacific Ocean, New Zealand, on Wednesday, Mar 15, 2023 at 12:56 pm (GMT -12)

Very strong magnitude 6.5 earthquake at 12 km depth

16 Mar 01:02 UTC: First to report: GEONET (NZ) after 6 minutes.
16 Mar 01:10: Magnitude recalculated from 6.6 to 6.7. Epicenter location corrected by 19 km (12 mi) towards E.
16 Mar 01:21: Magnitude recalculated from 6.7 to 6.5. Hypocenter depth recalculated from 33.0 to 12.0 km (from 21 to 7.5 mi). Epicenter location corrected by 8.5 km (5.3 mi) towards WSW.

Earthquake details

Date & timeMar 16, 2023 00:56:00 UTC -
Local time at epicenterWednesday, Mar 15, 2023 at 12:56 pm (GMT -12)
StatusConfirmed
Magnitude6.5
Depth12.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude30.30406°S / 175.84683°W (South Pacific Ocean, New Zealand)
Antipode30.304°N / 4.153°E
Shaking intensityVery strong shaking near epicenter
Felt4 reports
Primary data sourceGEONET (NZ) (Earthquake Commission and Geological Survey, New Zealand)
Nearest volcanoRaoul Island (231 km / 144 mi)
Nearby towns and cities
Weather at epicenter at time of quakeClear Sky 21.1°C (70 F), humidity: 65%, wind: 7 m/s (13 kts) from ESE
Estimated seismic energy released3.5 x 1014 joules (98.6 gigawatt hours, equivalent to 84802 tons of TNT or 5.3 atomic bombs!) | about seismic energy
Show interactive Map
[smaller] [bigger]

Data for the same earthquake reported by different agencies

Info: The more agencies report about the same quake and post similar data, the more confidence you can have in the data. It takes normally up to a few hours until earthquake parameters are calculated with near-optimum precision.
Mag.DepthLocationSource
6.512 kmNew ZealandGEONET (NZ)
7.022 kmNew Zealand: Kermadec Islands RegionUSGS
7.110 kmNew Zealand: Kermadec Islands RegionGeoAu
6.710 kmNew Zealand: Near AucklandRENASS
7.110 kmNew Zealand: Kermadec Islands RegionGFZ
7.022 kmNew Zealand: Kermadec Islands RegionRaspberryShake
7.010 kmNew Zealand: Kermadec Islands RegionIRIS
7.00.8 kmNew Zealand [Sea]INGV
7.010 kmNew Zealand: KERMADEC ISLANDS REGIONEMSC

Seismograms

Seismic station: Tucson, Arizona (TUC/IU network) | Distance from quake: 9766 km / 6068 mi | Show on map | Station Info
Seismic station Tucson, Arizona: vertical movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)
Seismogram (vertical component) around time of quake. Thin dotted red line indicates time of quake. Seismic waves arrive some time later, depending on distance. Bandpass filter applied: 0.02-2.0 Hz. Source: IRIS Buffer of Uniform Data (BUD) webtool
Show more

User reports for this quake (11)

User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.
Contribute:
Leave a comment if you find a particular report interesting or want to add to it.
Flag as inappropriate.
Mark as helpful or interesting.
Send your own user report!
Translate
Wairoa, Hawke's Bay (1149 km SSW of epicenter) [Map] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / vibration and rolling / 15-20 s : Felt like it was long wide shake | 15 users found this interesting.  
Whangarei / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling / 2-5 s : Stronger than usual 5 sec vibration | 8 users found this interesting.  
Opotiki (1064.2 km SW of epicenter) [Map] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 15-20 s : Rhythmic weak shakes | 7 users found this interesting.  
Kerikeri, Far-North-Distrikt, Northland (1105.5 km WSW of epicenter) [Map] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 10-15 s : زلزال قوي جدا ومدمر | 3 users found this interesting. (reported through our app)  
Palmerston North / not felt
Reñaca Beach (José Manuel Balmacedo 531) / not felt
Berlin / not felt
Porirua / not felt
Rotorua / not felt (reported through our app)
Rotorua / not felt (reported through our app)
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii / not felt

Aftershocks

[More info]

Recorded aftershocks, latest first (13 quakes)

Date and timeMag
Depth		LocationDetails
Mar 22, 2023 14:16
6 days ago
5.0

33 km		South Pacific Ocean, New ZealandMore
Mar 21, 2023 07:34
7 days ago
4.1

33 km		South Pacific Ocean, New ZealandMore
Mar 19, 2023 08:44
9 days ago
4.7

33 km		South Pacific Ocean, New ZealandMore
Mar 18, 2023 18:21
10 days ago
5.5

33 km		South Pacific Ocean, New ZealandMore
Mar 18, 2023 03:44
11 days ago
5.0

10 km		South Pacific Ocean, New ZealandMore
Mar 17, 2023 04:31
11 days ago
4.6

10 km		South Pacific Ocean, New ZealandMore
Mar 16, 2023 18:13
12 days ago
4.6

10 km		South Pacific Ocean, New ZealandMore
Mar 16, 2023 12:53
12 days ago
5.0

33 km		South Pacific Ocean, New ZealandMore
Mar 16, 2023 08:36
12 days ago
4.7

33 km		South Pacific Ocean, New ZealandMore
Mar 16, 2023 06:13
12 days ago
4.7

33 km		South Pacific Ocean, New ZealandMore
Mar 16, 2023 04:38
12 days ago
4.7

100 km		South Pacific Ocean, New ZealandMore
Mar 16, 2023 02:37
13 days ago
5.0

33 km		South Pacific Ocean, New ZealandMore
Mar 16, 2023 01:46
13 days ago
5.0

33 km		South Pacific Ocean, New ZealandMore

Earlier earthquakes in the same area

Try our free app!
Volcanoes & Earthquakes - new app for Android
Android | iOS version
Why is there advertising on this site?

Support us - Help us upgrade our services!

We truly love working to bring you the latest volcano and earthquake data from around the world. Maintaining our website and our free apps does require, however, considerable time and resources.
We need financing to increase hard- and software capacity as well as support our editor team. We're aiming to achieve uninterrupted service wherever an earthquake or volcano eruption unfolds, and your donations can make it happen! Every donation will be highly appreciated. If you find the information useful and would like to support our team in integrating further features, write great content, and in upgrading our soft- and hardware, please make a donation (PayPal or Online credit card payment).

Planned features:
  • Improved multilanguage support
  • Tsunami alerts
  • Faster responsiveness
Thanks to your past donations, these features have been added recently:
  • Design upgrade
  • Detailed quake stats
  • Additional seismic data sources
Download and Upgrade the Volcanoes & Earthquakes app to get one of the fastest seismic and volcano alerts online:
Android | IOS
Thank you!
Sources: VolcanoDiscovery / VolcanoAdventures and other sources as noted.
Use of material: Most text and images on our websites are owned by us. Re-use is generally not permitted without authorization. Contact us for licensing rights.
Volcanoes & Earthquakes
VolcanoDiscovery Home
Volcanoes | Earthquakes | Photos | Volcano News | App
Adventure & Study Travel
Tours to Volcanoes and Volcanic Areas: walking tours, photo tours, study tours
Tours & Dates | FAQ | About us
Get our newsletter!
Company info
Contact | Legal info | Terms & conditions
Follow us
Follow us on facebook Follow us on Instagram Follow us on Twitter Visit our Youtube channel
EN | DE | EL | ES | FR | IT | RU
VolcanoDiscovery GmbH, Germany, Reg. nr.: HRB 103744, EU Tax Id: DE 310 395 322 owned and created by
Dr. Tom Pfeiffer, volcanologist, volcano photographer, tour organizer member of
IAVCEI
Volcanological Society
Ecotourism Greece
Insured by R+V
VolcanoDiscovery © 2004- All Rights Reserved | Privacy - cookie settings