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Moderate mag. 3.9 earthquake - 39 km east of Rotorua, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, on Saturday, Mar 18, 2023 at 3:04 pm (GMT +13) -

Moderate magnitude 3.9 earthquake at 5 km depth

18 Mar 02:06 UTC: First to report: GEONET (NZ) after 2 minutes.
18 Mar 02:07: Magnitude recalculated from 3.8 to 3.9. Hypocenter depth recalculated from 17.9 to 5.0 km (from 11.1 to 3.1 mi). Epicenter location corrected by 6.5 km (4 mi) towards E.

Earthquake details

Date & time	Mar 18, 2023 02:04:07 UTC -
Local time at epicenter	Saturday, Mar 18, 2023 at 3:04 pm (GMT +13)
Status	Confirmed
Magnitude	3.9
Depth	5.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude	38.11046°S / 176.69223°E (Kawerau District, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand)
Antipode	38.11°N / 3.308°W
Shaking intensity	Light shaking
Felt	5 reports
Primary data source	GEONET (NZ) (Earthquake Commission and Geological Survey, New Zealand)
Nearest volcano	Okataina (Tarawera) (17 km / 11 mi)
Nearby towns and cities	1 km (1 mi) SSW of Kawerau (pop: 6,700) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 19 km (12 mi) SW of Edgecumbe (pop: 1,790) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 31 km (19 mi) SW of Whakatane (pop: 18,600) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 39 km (24 mi) E of Rotorua (pop: 65,900) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 66 km (41 mi) SE of Tauranga (pop: 110,300) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 83 km (52 mi) NE of Taupo (Waikato) (pop: 22,500) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 129 km (80 mi) ESE of Hamilton (Waikato) (pop: 152,600) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 389 km (242 mi) NNE of Wellington (pop: 381,900) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby
Weather at epicenter at time of quake	Scattered Clouds 24.1°C (75 F), humidity: 43%, wind: 0 m/s (1 kts) from NW
Estimated seismic energy released	4.5 x 10¹⁰ joules (12.4 megawatt hours, equivalent to 10.7 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
3.9	5 km	New Zealand	GEONET (NZ)
3.9	5 km	3.9 NORTH ISLAND OF NEW ZEALAND	EMSC
3.9	5 km	North Island, New Zealand	RaspberryShake

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User reports for this quake (5)

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

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Edgecumbe NZ (19 km NE of epicenter) [Map] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Outside under my pergola,very noticeable pot plants swinging, house creeking

NEW zealand, Kawerau (2.2 km NNE of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) : Sitting at the dinning table

Whakatane, Awa Hotel / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s : Very slight quiver, while lying on bed.

Edgecumbe / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Edgecumbe / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / both vertical and horizontal swinging

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