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An earthquake and aftershocks have been felt near Taupō.
An earthquake and aftershocks have been felt near Taupō, after a magnitude 5.4 quake occurred at 11:47pm on Wednesday night.
The moderate strength earthquake struck 15km south-west of Taupō, at a depth of 5km.
A series of aftershocks followed, varying in intensity. Aftershocks measuring from M2.5 to M3.9 near Taupō were reported on GeoNet.
“Taupō had a strong shake with several aftershocks this evening,” GeoNet wrote on Twitter overnight, adding that thousands of people had felt the moderate quake.
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“Earthquakes are common for this area at [Volcano Alert Level 1].
“Remember, if you’re in bed when an earthquake occurs, Stay, Cover and Hold.”
Kiwis woken up by the shaking shared their experiences on social media, with people from Napier, Palmerston North and other areas reporting feeling the quake and aftershocks.
There were no immediate reports of damage from the incidents.
Taupō’s volcanic alert level (VAL) was raised to 1 in September.
A VAL of 1 means “minor volcanic unrest” is causing ongoing earthquakes and ground deformation at Taupō volcano, both under the lake and on land surrounding it.
“There has been an increase in earthquakes and deformation (ground movement) at Taupō since May 2022 indicating volcanic unrest is occurring,” duty volcanologist Steven Sherburn told Stuff in September.
There have been 17 previous episodes of unrest there over the past 150 years.
“Several of these were more severe than what we are currently observing at Taupō, Sherburn said.
The last eruption at Taupō volcano was around 232AD and the chance of an eruption at Taupō remains “very low in any one year”, Sherburn said in September.
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