Historical New Zealand Earthquakes

This page is a work in progress. I will be adding further earthquakes to this list over time. I am currently uncertain whether to limit this to 90 years before present or 75 years before present.

Below is a list of known quakes found in Eiby (1968) which are corroborated with Downes & Dowrick (2014). Magnitudes given are from the latter monograph except where marked with an asterisk. Quakes listed in italics are found solely in Downes & Dowrick (2014).

8th July 1843 Mw 7.6 Western Hawke's Bay

19th October 1848 Mw 7.4-7.7 Marlborough

1st January 1851 ML 6.0-6.8* Taranaki

23rd January 1855 Mw 8.2-8.3 Wairarapa

23rd February 1863 ML 7.5* Hawke's Bay

19th October 1868 Mw 7.2-7.6 Cape Farewell

5th July 1869 Mw 4.7-4.9 Christchurch

31st August 1870 Mw 5.6-5.8 Lake Ellesmere

26th February 1876 Mw 5.8 Oamaru I & II

11th April 1876 Mw 5.8 Oamaru III

19th July 1876 Mw 6.8 Ruahine

26th June 1881 Mw 6.7 Palmerston North

5th December 1881 Mw 6.0 Castle Hill

1st September 1888 Mw 7.0-7.3 North Canterbury

23rd June 1891 Mw 6.2 Waikato Heads

11th October 1892 Mw 5.7 Herbertville

12th February 1893 Mw 6.7-6.9 Nelson

4th August 1895 Banks Peninsula**

18th August 1895 Mw 6.0 Taupo

7th December 1897 Mw 6.5 Wanganui

16th November 1901 Mw 6.9 Cheviot

1st August 1903 Mw 5.2 Napier

8th August 1904 Mw 6.7-7.2 Cape Turnagain

5th October 1911 Mw 5.6 Hastings

26th May 1912 Mw 5.7 Waikato

22nd February 1913 Mw 5.3 Cape Foulwind

12th April 1913 Mw 5.6 Masterton

7th October 1914 Mw 6.6 East Cape I

28th October 1914 Mw 6.4 East Cape II

22nd November 1914 Mw 7.3 Bay of Plenty

6th August 1917 Mw 6.7-6.9 Tinui

29th June 1921 Mw 6.6-6.8 Hawke's Bay

10th June 1922 Mw 4.8-5.0 Taupo I

18th June 1922 Mw 4.8-5.0 Taupo II

25th June 1922 Mw 4.8-5.0 Taupo III

4th July 1922 Mw 4.9 Taupo IV

14th July 1922 Mw 5.1 Taupo V

5th September 1922 Mw 5.4 Taupo VI

25th December 1922 Mw 6.4 Motunau

4th January 1926 Mw 4.9 Wellington

17th October 1926 Mw 6.0 Hawke's Bay

12th November 1926 Mw 4.6 Morrinsville

7th March 1928 Mw 5.4 New Plymouth

24th May 1928 Mw 5.2 Mount Cook

9th March 1929 Mw 7.0 Arthur's Pass

7th May 1929 Mw 5.5 Rangitikei

16th June 1929 Mw 7.3-7.7 Buller

19th June 1929 Mw 5.7-6.3 Buller Aftershock I

23rd June 1929 Mw 6.2-6.5 Buller Aftershock II

23rd June 1929 Mw 5.9-6.4 Buller Aftershock III

15th June 1929 Mw 5.8-6.3 Buller Aftershock IV

12th February 1930 Mw 6.2 Porangahau

**No magnitude known, but this quake is documented in passing in Downes & Yetton (2012) as having "a class 'C' magnitude", which alludes to Eiby's system - the quake most likely had a magnitude above 5.0.