Huge earthquake rocks New Zealand

Calcutta News.Net
Sunday 30th September, 2007

A major earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale has hit an area southwest of New Zealand.

Residents across the South Island of New Zealand felt the effects of the huge quake centered 350 kilometres off the coast near the remote Auckland Islands.

The country switched to daylight saving on Sunday so the quake was registered as having taken place at 5:23pm local time.

Meteorological authorities issued a tsunami alert for the Australian eastern states but this was later withdrawn except for the island state of Tasmania.

There were no reports of casualties or damage.

The NOAA Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a statement ruling out any destructive tsunami threat. 'However earthquakes of this size sometimes generate local tsunamis that can be destructive along coasts located within a hundred kilometres of the earthquake epicenter,' the statement said.

'Authorities in the region of the epicenter should be aware of this possibility and take appropriate action,' the statement concluded.

The Auckland Islands, the region closest to the epicenter, are uninhabited although they are occasionally visited by scientists.

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