Curious phenomenon in New Zealand: in the center of the North Island, the earth shook almost 1,000 times in recent 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 shook 922 times from last Saturday to Wednesday morning (local time) near the town of Kawerau in the Bay of Plenty region.
Swarm earthquakes in New Zealand
With such an accumulation, experts speak of an earthquake swarm or swarm. “We expect a general decrease in the frequency of these earthquakes in the near future, but we can’t be sure,” said seismologist John Ristau.
There were already swarm earthquakes in the Kawerau region in 2018 and 2019, but with less severe earthquakes. “Our experts believe this swarm is due to active fault movement and is not related to volcanic unrest or geothermal activity,” Ristau said.
Mayor Faylene Tunui said some trails in the area were closed due to falling rocks and landslides. So far, however, there has been no major damage.