1000 earthquakes in five days

KStrange phenomenon in New Zealand: In the center of the North Island, the earth has trembled almost 1000 times in the past few days. Experts warned that the series of tremors, some of which reached a magnitude of 4.8, could continue for weeks. According to the national earthquake monitoring station Geonet, the earth trembled 922 times from last Saturday to Wednesday morning (local time) near the town of Kawerau in the Bay of Plenty region.

With such an accumulation, experts speak of an earthquake swarm or swarm. “We expect an overall decrease in the frequency of these earthquakes over the near future, but we can’t know for sure,” said seismologist John Ristau.

There had already been swarm earthquakes in the Kawerau region in 2018 and 2019, but with less severe earthquakes. “Our experts believe this swarm is due to the movement of active faults and is not related to volcanic unrest or geothermal activity,” Ristau pointed out.

Mayor Faylene Tunui said some hiking trails in the region have been closed due to falling rocks and landslides. So far, however, there has been no major damage.