Thursday, September 20

Glitches in a new earthquake alert system have seen erroneous reports, based on early data, of massive earthquakes sent out. GNS Science's GeoNet Data Centre, which is using a newer and faster automated alert system, sent out email alerts on Thursday morning, initially reporting a 5.6-magnitude quake off Auckland's west coast and a 6.4 quake off Taranaki. However, both turned out to be a rather more moderate 2.7 and 3.7 quakes near Oxford in Canterbury.

Photo by SNPA Sep 17, 2012