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Moderate mag. 4.3 earthquake - 88 km north of Gisborne, New Zealand, on Sunday, Mar 7, 2021 at 2:14 am (GMT +13)

Moderate magnitude 4.3 earthquake at 21 km depth

6 Mar 13:21 UTC: First to report: EMSC after 7 minutes.

Update Sat, 6 Mar 2021, 13:27

Moderate 4.3 quake hits near Gisborne, Gisborne District, New Zealand

4.3 quake 7 Mar 2:14 am (GMT +13)

A magnitude 4.3 earthquake near Gisborne, Gisborne District, New Zealand, was reported only 13 minutes ago by the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), considered one of the key international agencies that monitor seismic activity worldwide. The earthquake occurred at a shallow depth of 21 km beneath the epicenter early morning on Sunday 7 March 2021 at 2:14 am local time. 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.
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 Ruatoria (pop. 900) located 26 km from the epicenter.
Other towns or cities near the epicenter where the quake might have been felt as very weak shaking include Opotiki (pop. 4,000) located 68 km from the epicenter, Gisborne (pop. 34,300) 88 km away, and Whakatane (pop. 18,600) 93 km away.
VolcanoDiscovery will automatically update magnitude and depth if these change and follow up if other significant news about the quake become available. If you're in the area, please send us your experience through our reporting mechanism, either online or via our mobile app. This will help us provide more first-hand updates to anyone around the globe who wants to know more about this quake.

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Earthquake details

Date & time	Mar 6, 2021 13:14:25 UTC
Local time at epicenter	Sunday, Mar 7, 2021 at 2:14 am (GMT +13)
Status	Confirmed
Magnitude	4.3
Depth	21.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude	37.86°S / 178.04°E (Gisborne District, Gisborne, New Zealand)
Antipode	37.86°N / 1.96°W
Shaking intensity	Light shaking near epicenter
Felt	0 reports
Primary data source	EMSC (European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre)
Nearest volcano	White Island (85 km / 53 mi)
Nearby towns and cities	26 km (16 mi) W of Ruatoria (pop: 897) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 68 km (42 mi) ENE of Opotiki (Bay of Plenty) (pop: 4,040) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 88 km (55 mi) N of Gisborne (pop: 34,300) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 93 km (58 mi) E of Whakatane (Bay of Plenty) (pop: 18,600) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 160 km (100 mi) E of Rotorua (Bay of Plenty) (pop: 65,900) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 166 km (103 mi) E of Tauranga (Bay of Plenty) (pop: 110,300) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 206 km (128 mi) NNE of Napier City (Hawke's Bay) (pop: 56,800) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 242 km (151 mi) E of Hamilton (Waikato) (pop: 152,600) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 295 km (183 mi) ESE of Manukau (Auckland) (pop: 362,000) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 473 km (294 mi) NE of Wellington (pop: 381,900) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby
Weather at epicenter at time of quake	Overcast Clouds 13.2°C (56 F), humidity: 89%, wind: 1 m/s (1 kts) from WNW
Estimated seismic energy released	1.8 x 10¹¹ joules (49.4 megawatt hours, equivalent to 42.5 tons of TNT) \| about seismic energy

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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.

Mag.	Depth	Location	Source
4.3	21 km	4.3 OFF E. COAST OF N. ISLAND, N.Z., New Zealand	EMSC

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Seismograms

Seismic station: South Karori, New Zealand (SNZO/IU network) | Distance from quake: 478 km / 297 mi | Show on map | Station Info

Seismic station South Karori, New Zealand: 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: 0.2-10.0 Hz. Source: IRIS Buffer of Uniform Data (BUD) webtool

User reports for this quake

User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.

There are no user reports for this quake.

Earlier earthquakes in the same area

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