Earthquakes near Taupo in the last few days are nothing out of the ordinary and their depth should have prevented damage, GNS Science said. (Yahoo Xtra News)
An earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale was recorded near Taupo at 7.03am today at a depth of 80km. It followed an earthquake measuring 5.5 at a depth of 120km in the same area on Thursday.
"They are in similar positions, but New Zealand has between 15,000 and 20,000 earthquakes in a bog-standard year and you would expect 10 or 20 of this [size] a year," said seismologist Bryan Fielz. Today's quake could have been felt in most areas of the North Island below Auckland.
"These were quite deep, so they are felt quite widely but are less strong locally," Mr Fielz said. "Normally you start saying they are more shallow at around 20km or 30km."