Moderate mag. 4.2 earthquake - Tasman Sea, 27 km southwest of Wanganui, Manawatu-Wanganui, New Zealand, on Friday, 22 Jan 2021 8:02 am (GMT +13) -

Moderate mag. 4.2 earthquake - Tasman Sea, 27 km southwest of Wanganui, Manawatu-Wanganui, New Zealand, on Friday, 22 Jan 2021 8:02 am (GMT +13)

Moderate magnitude 4.2 earthquake at 12 km depth

21 Jan 19:04 UTC: First to report: GEONET (NZ) after 2 minutes.
21 Jan 19:08: Hypocenter depth recalculated from 17.3 to 11.8 km (from 10.7 to 7.3 mi). Epicenter location corrected by 4 km (2.5 mi) towards WSW.
Update Thu, 21 Jan 2021, 19:09
Light magnitude 4.2 quake hits 27 km southwest of Wanganui, New Zealand in the morning
4.2 quake 22 Jan 8:02 am (GMT +13)
4.2 quake 22 Jan 8:02 am (GMT +13)
An earthquake of magnitude 4.2 occurred in the morning on Friday 22 January 2021 at 8:02 am local time near Wanganui, Wanganui District, Manawatu-Wanganui, New Zealand, as reported by New Zealand's Earthquake Commission and Geological Survey (GeoNet).
According to preliminary data, the quake was located at a shallow depth of 11.8 km. Shallow earthquakes are felt more strongly than deeper ones as they are closer to the surface. The exact magnitude, epicenter, and depth of the quake might be revised within the next few hours or minutes as seismologists review data and refine their calculations, or as other agencies issue their report.
A second report was later issued by the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), which listed it as a magnitude 4.2 earthquake as well.
Based on the preliminary seismic data, the quake should not have caused any significant damage, but was probably felt by many people as light vibration in the area of the epicenter.
Weak shaking might have been felt in Ratana (pop. 440) located 26 km from the epicenter, Wanganui (pop. 40,300) 27 km away, and Bulls (pop. 1,800) 41 km away.
Other towns or cities near the epicenter where the quake might have been felt as very weak shaking include Foxton (pop. 4,800) located 49 km from the epicenter, Patea (pop. 1,300) 56 km away, Levin (pop. 19,800) 63 km away, Palmerston North (pop. 76,000) 65 km away, and Paraparaumu (pop. 25,300) 86 km away.
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Earthquake data:

Date & time: 21 Jan 2021 19:02:06 UTC -
Local time at epicenter: Friday, 22 Jan 2021 8:02 am (GMT +13)
Magnitude: 4.2
Depth: 11.8 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 40.14523°S / 174.89914°E (Tasman Sea, New Zealand)
Nearest volcano: Ruapehu (112 km / 70 mi)
Nearby towns and cities:
26 km (16 mi) WSW of Ratana (pop: 437) --> See nearby quakes!
27 km (17 mi) SSW of Wanganui (pop: 40,300) --> See nearby quakes!
49 km (30 mi) NW of Foxton (pop: 4,780) --> See nearby quakes!
63 km (39 mi) NNW of Levin (pop: 19,800) --> See nearby quakes!
86 km (54 mi) N of Paraparaumu (pop: 25,300) --> See nearby quakes!
110 km (68 mi) N of Porirua (pop: 50,900) --> See nearby quakes!
119 km (74 mi) N of Lower Hutt (pop: 101,200) --> See nearby quakes!
127 km (79 mi) N of Wellington (pop: 381,900) --> See nearby quakes!
139 km (86 mi) SSE of New Plymouth (pop: 49,200) --> See nearby quakes!
265 km (165 mi) S of Hamilton (pop: 152,600) --> See nearby quakes!
159 km (99 mi) SW of North Island (pop: 3,749,200) --> See nearby quakes!
Weather at epicenter at time of quake:
Scattered Clouds 14.4°C (58 F), humidity: 82%, wind: 2 m/s (4 kts) from NW
Primary data source: GEONET (NZ) (Earthquake Commission and Geological Survey, New Zealand)
Estimated released energy: 1.3 x 1011 joules (35 megawatt hours, equivalent to 30.1 tons of TNT) More info
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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.
MagnitudeDepthLocationSource
M 4.212 kmNew ZealandGEONET (NZ)
M 4.217 km4.2 COOK STRAIT, NEW ZEALANDEMSC

User reports for this quake (4)

User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.
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Wanganui / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / 15-20 s : Here we felt the earthquake as a big jolt followed by some light shaking | One user found this interesting.
128 km S of epicenter [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 1-2 s (reported through our app)
whanganui (27.4 km NNE of epicenter) [Map] / Weak shaking (MMI III) : Light trembling, insufficient to disturb cage birds. (reported through our app)
Wanganui / Moderate shaking (MMI V) : It was very heavy rocking and the whole house shook
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