New Zealand got hit with an earthquake which is one of the strongest earthquakes to hit the region of New Zealand on Friday. The magnitude of earthquake that hit the nation was of 8.1 magnitude quake struck. After the quake, the national tsunami warning was announced in the region.
The Tsunami warning was lifted after around 13 hours after the quake, after it affected the regions of Pacific, Hawaii and he coastal areas of New Zealand. As reported by the Geological survey of United States, also called as USGS, very strong earthquakes were reported. Total 3 earthquakes near the North Island of New Zealand suffered through this disaster where all of them had their epicentre near to each other only.
It happened consecutively within the time of 8 hours and their epicentre lied in ocean which after the quake triggered the possibility of intense tsunami in the above mentioned regions too.
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The largest quake in that duration of 8 hours took place around 8 am in the morning according to New Zealand’s local time on 5th March 2021. It is the most recent earthquake as compared to rest two. The epicentre of this earthquake lied around 945 km or 600 miles to the north of New Zealand, it was in the ocean and the magnitude of this quake was as high as 8.1. It was backed up by two powerful earthquakes too. One of them had the magnitude of 7.3 and the other had the magnitude of 7.4, which were very high according to U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
Nema’s Say
Just after the NEMA which is National Emergency Management Agency of New Zealand asked their public to go to some higher grounds as soon as possible. They can walk, run or cycle in order to save themselves from the Tsunami warning that were issued by National Emergency Management Agency.
People were urged to evacuate their lower ground places, and after many after – shocks of the quake people started their evacuation too. The warnings were lifted after few hours of the quake.
The National Emergency Management Agency tweeted that “GNS Science has advised that the largest waves have now passed, and therefore the threat level is now downgraded to a Beach and Marine threat for all areas which were previously under Land and Marine threat. All people who evacuated can now return.”
Followed by this the agency asked the people to not go near the coastal regions. They said that the Coastal Inundation which means flooding of land near the shore is no longer expected after the offset of the earthquake disaster. They asked the people to move out of water and watch out for themselves in case of unusual wave activities.
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Followed by the Emergency Management Agency of New Zealand, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre also issued a tsunami watch for places like Hawaii and nearby coastal regions which was later cancelled as soon as they got sure that there is no more danger.
Most Affected Places:
The places that were affected by the Earthquake were the places on the Kermadec Fault, which passes east of New Zealand and stretches straight towards the nation’s north. As it is known there is convergent plate boundary on the Kermadec – Tonga subduction zone where the two land plates which is better known as the tectonic plates of the earth collides.
In this type of tectonic plate collision, one of the plates came below the other plate and got submerged under the other. This submergence is called subduction which in turn provides a very fertile ground which is active for many different types of natural havocs like earthquakes and volcanoes. In this subduction zone, its eastern boundary is considered to highly active in the world, with a rate up to 9.4 inches/year (24 cm/year), as revealed by the scientists.
This eastern boundary of the Tonga Plate makes it one of the fastest subduction zones in the world. There is trench which is formed due to the plates of the regions of Kermadec, Tonga and even the Pacific. This trench is so deep in depth, making it the second – deepest trench in the world with about 10,800 metres deep, which is 35,000 in feet. Being a home to different trenches, earthquakes and numerous other disaster prone stuffs, it is also a home to active submarine volcanoes, which is the longest chain of submarine volcanoes in the world.
Even the Washington Post of US stated about how and why there was an earthquake this strong in New Zealand. It said that how unusual it was for the nation to under – go three back – to – back earthquakes in just a matter of 8 hours and just within the radius of 300 miles. Even though the first two earthquakes attacked two far away regions, the third one shook them all with its 8.1 high magnitude.
