{"id":1093091,"date":"2026-07-16T15:53:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T15:53:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1093091\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T15:53:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T15:53:26","slug":"new-zealand-on-tsunami-alert-after-5-9-magnitude-earthquake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1093091\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand on tsunami alert after 5.9-magnitude earthquake"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Zealand authorities on Thursday lifted the tsunami warning issued after a 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck off the west coast of the South Island, saying the threat had eased following a revised assessment of the quake.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew Zealand downgrades tsunami alert after earthquake. (REUTERS)<\/p>\n

The National Emergency Management Agency said the advisory had been downgraded from a warning after determining that the earthquake was smaller than initially estimated, news agency AFP reported.<\/p>\n

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Authorities, who had earlier urged people in affected coastal areas to “move immediately” to higher ground, later advised residents to remain cautious of “strong and unusual currents” along the shoreline.<\/p>\n

Initial warning prompted evacuations<\/p>\n

Soon after the earthquake, emergency officials had asked people in affected coastal areas to “move immediately” to higher ground as a precaution.<\/p>\n

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The earthquake struck at a depth of 76 kilometres, about 83 kilometres west of Queenstown, a popular tourist destination on the South Island, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).<\/p>\n

Authorities also warned of possible land inundation and instructed people in Milford Sound, another major tourist hotspot, to evacuate to higher ground.<\/p>\n

Residents describe strong shaking<\/p>\n

People living in the region described experiencing a powerful jolt.<\/p>\n

The manager of a hotel in nearby Te Anau told AFP she “could hear it coming first”.<\/p>\n

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“The shaking was very severe. I thought it was the big one we’ve been told is coming.”<\/p>\n

Despite the strong tremors and precautionary evacuations, no damage had been reported by Thursday night.<\/p>\n

Why New Zealand frequently experiences earthquakes?<\/p>\n

New Zealand frequently experiences earthquakes because it sits at the boundary of the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates. The country is also prone to volcanic activity.<\/p>\n

Earlier on Thursday, a separate 5.0-magnitude earthquake was felt off the North Island.<\/p>\n

The country has witnessed devastating earthquakes in the past. In 2011, a 6.3-magnitude quake struck Christchurch on the South Island, killing 185 people.<\/p>\n

(With AFP inputs)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Zealand authorities on Thursday lifted the tsunami warning issued after a 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck off the west…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1093092,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3843],"tags":[298386,35330,728,4676,704,70,111801,16,15],"class_list":["post-1093091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-5-9-magnitude-earthquake","tag-earthquake","tag-environment","tag-natural-disaster","tag-new-zealand","tag-science","tag-tsunami-alert","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116930466796905845","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1093091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1093091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1093091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1093092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1093091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1093091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1093091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}