New Zealand’s South Island has been hit by one of the strongest earthquakes since 2011 when much of downtown Christchurch was destroyed and 185 people died.
The country’s natural hazard monitoring service GeoNet classed Tuesday morning’s quake near Arthur’s Pass, about 63 miles west of Christchurch, as ‘severe’.
There are no immediate reports of damage or injuries, even though the quake, which struck just before 07:00 local time, measured 6.0.
More than 30 aftershocks measuring up to 4.2 were felt within four hours and GeoNet said more will follow.
In a statement, it said: "In typical aftershock sequences, we can expect the largest aftershock to be up to magnitude 5.0
The country is prone to seismic activity, experiencing about 20,000 tremors a year, but less than three on average register at a magnitude 6.0 or higher.
