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5.9-magnitude earthquake near Te Anau triggered a tsunami warning.(Representational Image)
On Thursday, a strong earthquake near Te Anau in New Zealand's South Island evening triggered authorities to issue a brief tsunami warning for parts of the western coast. The tremor had been initially identified as a magnitude 6.3 quake but in subsequent reports from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) it was revised down to 5.9.
New Zealand's National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said the earthquake's epicenter lay some 40 kilometres north of Te Anau, where the gateway to the popular Fiordland tourist region is located, and it occurred at more than 50 kilometres deep.
NEMA issued a tsunami warning for coastal zones from Milford Sound to Puysegur Point shortly after the quake struck. Residents and visitors in the area were advised to immediately escape to higher ground or move as far inland as possible to avoid the threat of tsunami waves.
The warnings were triggered by the possibility of the offshore quake triggering potential damage along neighbouring parts of the coastline.
After reassessment and a recalibration of the earthquake's magnitude to 5.9, NEMA has downgraded the tsunami warning to a tsunami advisory.
Coastal flooding is no longer expected, the agency said, so the advisory does not call for evacuation, unless people have been advised by their local Civil Defence authority to do so. However, authorities cautioned that strong and unusual sea currents combined with unpredictable surges may still be experienced along the western coast of New Zealand's South Island between Milford Sound and Puysegur Point.
New Zealand's geological hazard monitoring agency, GeoNet, said it had received more than 20,000 reports from people who felt the earthquake from across the lower South Island. Seven aftershocks, all centred around the Te Anau region, followed the main shaking.
