New Zealand’s North Island struck by earthquake

NEW Zealand has been rocked by an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.1 to 6.3.

The quake hit the nation’s North Island on Tuesday morning, centred off the coast almost 140km from Palmerston North at a depth of 37km.

The rumble comes less than a week after a powerful tremor centred in the upper South Island rocked the country and killed two people.

According to Geoscience



Australia, it is estimated the earthquake could have been felt by people up to 507km away, and could have caused damage up to 40km away.

Thousands of aftershocks have been registered since a 7.8 magnitude quake struck near Christchurch in the early hours of November 14.

Also on Tuesday, a 7.4 magnitude earthquake rocked Fukushima in northern Japan and generated a 1.4 metre tsunami around Sendai.