Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand, was hit by a 6.5 magnitude earthquake, Sunday July 21, which caused a lot of structural damage and a part of the city's port slid into the sea, according to Bloomberg.
The US Geological Survey record reveals that the earthquake hit the city at around 5:09 pm, local time about 57 kms south of Southwest Wellington. Minutes later another 5.5 magnitude quake hit the region. About ten hours after the second quake, another 5.8 scale tremor shook the place, reports ABC News.
The tremors shook up most buildings and homes. However, no casualties have been reported yet and worries of a potential tsunami were also warded off. The earthquake knocked off stock from shelves, smashed windows, burst pipes and caused a lot of power cuts. According to Bloomberg, some part of the land fell into the sea at the Port Wellington Container terminal.
One hotel was evacuated and flights to and from the city were also suspended. The quake didn't cause much damage but managed to instil fear and panic across the city. The quake is supposedly the largest recorded tremor since the 2011 quake that destroyed Christchurch.
"There's been a bit of structural damage, lots of shattered glass everywhere. Initially there were a few screams and panic, people thought it was another Christchurch," James McLaren, a resident of Wellington, said to BBC.
The quakes were a part of the series of tremors that have been affecting New Zealand for the past few days.
Check out a video of the 72-hour quake activity recorded near the region below:
New Zealand lies on the Ring of Fire, an area where large number of volcanoes and earthquakes occur in the Pacific Ocean. The line virtually covers the entire Pacific Rim. This makes the country more susceptible to frequent quakes. According to BBC, the region experiences more than 14,000 earthquakes in a year and only a few of them exceed a magnitude of 5.0 on the scale.
