2007 Gisborne earthquake

Template: Infobox earthquake / maintenance / property missing

(50 km southeast of Gisborne )

Gisborne, Napier, Wairoa

Zealandia ( New Zealand continental shelf )

The Gisborne Earthquake of 2007 occurred on 20 December 2007 50 km southeast of Gisborne in the Hikurangi Trough of the Pacific Ocean off the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The quake had a magnitude of 6.7 ML.

Tectonic background

The earthquake occurred on the line of the so-called Hikurangi Trough, a basin that represents the subduction interface, where the Pacific plate slides under the Australian Plate. On this line there are two zones in which so-called slow slip events occur, tectonic movements, which do not produce significant earthquakes because of their slowness. From the Tolaga Bay seaward down to Mahia Peninsula is one of them. Movements here can be detected usually only with GPS measurements. Despite the specificity of these zones additionally destructive earthquakes occur, as happened here in 2007.

The quake

The main quake was felt from Auckland via good 1000 km down to Dunedin. In Gisborne and Napier partially fell from power, came to problems in the infrastructure of the Internet and telephone connections. The water and sewer lines, and gas connections have been partially damaged. Numerous buildings were structurally damaged, of which three in the City the quake did not stand up and collapsed. From Wairoa less damage were reported. The quake was not followed by tsunami. With a quake of this magnitude and depth of a tsunami, according to GeoNet would have been unlikely.