(EXPRESS) – A strong earthquake has rocked the eastern coast of New Zealand’s north island, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) has confirmed, prompting an official warning telling people to move to higher ground.
The Civil Defence told anyone unable to get to a higher point to move as far inland as possible. The earthquake of a preliminary magnitude of 7.3 has sparked a tsunami warning in the region, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Shocked witnesses took to social media to describe their panic.
One person living in the Lower Hutt suburb of Petone in the North Island said: “Medium shake that kept rolling for a while. Woke us up.” And a person living in Wellington said the shake “woke me up”. The earthquake hit at 2.27 am local time on Friday morning (1.27 pm on Thursday in the UK).
The country’s Civil Defence body, the National Emergency Management Agency, issued an alert urging people living in coastal communities to move to higher ground. They said: “We are assessing whether the M7.3 EAST OF THE NORTH ISLAND NEW ZEALAND earthquake at 2021-03-05 2:27 AM has created a tsunami that could affect New Zealand.
“We will provide an update as soon as the initial assessment has been completed. “Anyone near the coast who felt a LONG or STRONG quake should MOVE IMMEDIATELY to the nearest high ground, or as far inland as you can.” One panicked parent said “should I go wake up my kid or what?!” READ MORE
