Powerful quake jolts Christchurch, but no damage or injuries
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand— A powerful magnitude-5.6 earthquake Tuesday jolted awake many residents in the New Zealand city of Christchurch, but there were no immediate reports of serious damage or injuries.
The quake struck at 6:48 a.m. local time, according to the United States Geological Survey. The epicenter was 101 kilometers (63 miles) northwest of Christchurch on the central South Island at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles).
New Zealand earthquake monitoring agency GeoNet collected 2,600 reports of people in the Christchurch area feeling the quake, which some described on social media as long and rolling, others as short and sharp.
“Jolted awake at the farm this morning,” wrote television reporter Donna-Marie Lever on Twitter. “Lights swinging but no damage here.”
GeoNet reported a subsequent string of smaller earthquakes.
The quakes did not prompt any tsunami warnings in the region.
Christchurch, on the east coast of South Island, is still rebuilding from a 2011 earthquake that destroyed much of the downtown and killed 185 people.
New Zealand is prone to earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.
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