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

Light mag. 4.4 earthquake - Tasman Sea, 170 km northwest of Wellington, New Zealand, on Tuesday, Sep 14, 2021 at 9:50 pm (GMT +12)

Light magnitude 4.4 earthquake at 205 km depth

14 Sep 09:55 UTC: First to report: GEONET (NZ) after 5 minutes.
14 Sep 09:57: Magnitude recalculated from 4.2 to 4.4. Hypocenter depth recalculated from 204.8 to 204.9 km (from 127 to 127 mi). Epicenter location corrected by 7.5 km (4.7 mi) towards W.

Update Tue, 14 Sep 2021, 10:03

Moderate 4.4 quake hits near Opunake, South Taranaki District, Taranaki, New Zealand

4.4 quake 14 Sep 9:50 pm (GMT +12)

Just 13 minutes ago, a 4.4-magnitude earthquake struck near Opunake, South Taranaki District, Taranaki, New Zealand. The tremor was recorded in the evening on Tuesday, September 14th, 2021, at 9:50 pm local time, at an intermediate to considerable depth of 204.9 km below the surface.
The event was filed by New Zealand's Earthquake Commission and Geological Survey (GeoNet), the first seismological agency to report it.
A second report was later issued by the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), which listed it as a magnitude 4.2 earthquake.
According to preliminary calculations, we do not expect that the quake was felt by many people and did not cause any damage. In Opunake (pop. 1,500, 64 km away), and Hawera (pop. 11,100, 70 km away), the quake was probably not felt.
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.

Download the Volcanoes & Earthquakes app and get one of the fastest seismic alerts online: Android | iOS

Earthquake details

Date & time	Sep 14, 2021 09:50:19 UTC
Local time at epicenter	Tuesday, Sep 14, 2021 at 9:50 pm (GMT +12)
Status	Confirmed
Magnitude	4.4
Depth	204.9 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude	40.00689°S / 173.66412°E (Tasman Sea, New Zealand)
Antipode	40.007°N / 6.336°W
Shaking intensity	Very weak shaking
Felt	4 reports
Primary data source	GEONET (NZ) (Earthquake Commission and Geological Survey, New Zealand)
Nearest volcano	Taranaki (86 km / 53 mi)
Nearby towns and cities	64 km (39 mi) SSW of Opunake (pop: 1,500) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 70 km (44 mi) SW of Hawera (pop: 11,100) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 111 km (69 mi) SSW of New Plymouth (pop: 49,200) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 118 km (74 mi) W of Whanganui (pop: 40,300) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 144 km (90 mi) NNE of Nelson (pop: 59,200) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 160 km (100 mi) NW of Porirua (pop: 50,900) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 170 km (105 mi) N of Blenheim (pop: 26,600) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 170 km (106 mi) WNW of Palmerston North (pop: 76,000) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 170 km (106 mi) NW of Wellington (pop: 381,900) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 171 km (106 mi) NW of Lower Hutt (pop: 101,200) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby
Weather at epicenter at time of quake	Few Clouds 10.9°C (52 F), humidity: 67%, wind: 13 m/s (26 kts) from ESE
Estimated seismic energy released	2.5 x 10¹¹ joules (69.8 megawatt hours, equivalent to 60 tons of TNT) \| 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.	Depth	Location	Source
4.4	205 km	New Zealand	GEONET (NZ)
4.2	205 km	4.2 COOK STRAIT, NEW ZEALAND	EMSC

Most recent quakes Top 20 past 24 hrs Quakes in New Zealand

User reports for this quake (5)

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

Australia / not felt

Waikawa Beach / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / complex motion difficult to describe / 1-2 s : Very small. Short quake

Wellington / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

santa rosa / Very weak shaking (MMI II)

Blenheim / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s

Earlier earthquakes in the same area

Click here to search our database for earlier earthquakes in the same area since 1900!

Try our free app!

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!

Stop Russia's Agression - Support Ukraine

Significant parts of this website use brilliant open-source software developed by Ukrainians. Russia's unprovoked war has killed tens of thousands, displaced millions, and the beautiful country of Ukraine is being destroyed. We cannot be silent even if the topic of this website has nothing to do with politics.
If you like to support Ukraine from abroad:
Ukrainians recommend the Come Back Alive charity. For other options, see StandWithUkraine.

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