The 2007 Gisborne earthquake occurred under the Pacific Ocean about off the eastern coast of New Zealand's

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

at 8:55 pm NZDT on 20 December. The tremor had a moment magnitude of 6.7 and maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (''Very Strong''), and affected the city of Gisborne, but was felt widely across the country from Auckland in the north to Dunedin in the south.M 6.7, Gisborne, 20 December 2007
GeoNet.

Tectonic setting

New Zealand lies along the boundary between the Australian and

Pacific plate The Pacific Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate that lies beneath the Pacific Ocean. At , it is the largest tectonic plate. The plate first came into existence 190 million years ago, at the triple junction between the Farallon, Phoenix, and Iza ...

s. * In the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

, most of the relative displacement between these plates is taken up along a single dextral (right lateral)

strike-slip fault In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...

with a major

reverse Reverse or reversing may refer to: Arts and media * ''Reverse'' (Eldritch album), 2001 * ''Reverse'' (2009 film), a Polish comedy-drama film * ''Reverse'' (2019 film), an Iranian crime-drama film * ''Reverse'' (Morandi album), 2005 * ''Reverse'' ...

component, the Alpine Fault. * In the

, displacement is mainly taken up along the

Kermadec-Tonga subduction zone The Kermadec-Tonga subduction zone is a convergent plate boundary that stretches from the North Island of New Zealand northward. The formation of the Kermadec and Tonga Plates started about 4–5 million years ago. Today, the eastern boundary ...

, although the remaining dextral strike-slip component is accommodated by the

North Island Fault System The North Island Fault System (also known as North Island Dextral Fault Belt or NIFS) is a set of southwest–northeast trending seismically-active faults in the North Island of New Zealand that carry most of the dextral (right lateral) strike- ...

. Subduction off the coast takes place at the Hikurangi Trench, which runs parallel to the East Coast of the North Island and is the southern extension from the Kermadec Trench, however earthquakes here occur less frequently.

Effects

While the earthquake was initially reported to have caused no deaths, an elderly woman in Gisborne suffered a heart attack and died shortly after the quake. A number of buildings in central Gisborne were damaged. The central business district was closed off to allow building inspectors to assess buildings for damage; three buildings had collapsed. There were blackouts immediately after the earthquake hit. The town clock stopped at 8:55 pm. As of 14 January 2008, the

Earthquake Commission The Earthquake Commission, ( mi, Kōmihana Rūwhenua), is a New Zealand Crown entity that invests in natural disaster research and education as well as providing natural disaster insurance to residential property owners. In March 2022, a bill ...

had received over 3100 insurance claims amounting to $16 million. It was earlier estimated that the cost of damage caused by the earthquake could rise to $30 million.The $30m shockwave
22 December 2007

References

External links

New Zealand earthquake report – Magnitude 6.7, Thursday, 20 December 2007 at 8:55:17 pm (NZDT)
GeoNet.
M 6.6 – off the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand
(U.S. Geological Survey) * {{Earthquakes in New Zealand History of the Gisborne District 2007 Gisborne earthquake Gisborne Gisborne December 2007 events in New Zealand 2007 disasters in New Zealand

Tectonic setting

Effects

See also

References

External links