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Moderate mag. 3.9 earthquake - 36 km east of Rotorua, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, on Sunday, Mar 19, 2023 at 6:11 pm (GMT +13) -

Moderate magnitude 3.9 earthquake at 3 km depth

19 Mar 05:13 UTC: First to report: GEONET (NZ) after 1 minute.
19 Mar 05:14: Magnitude recalculated from 4.0 to 3.8.
19 Mar 05:15: Hypocenter depth recalculated from 7.5 to 2.8 km (from 4.7 to 1.7 mi). Epicenter location corrected by 2.1 km (1.3 mi) towards NE.
19 Mar 05:20: Magnitude recalculated from 3.8 to 3.9. Hypocenter depth recalculated from 2.8 to 3.4 km (from 1.7 to 2.1 mi).

Earthquake details

Date & time	Mar 19, 2023 05:11:35 UTC -
Local time at epicenter	Sunday, Mar 19, 2023 at 6:11 pm (GMT +13)
Status	Confirmed
Magnitude	3.9
Depth	3.4 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude	38.0904°S / 176.65688°E (Kawerau District, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand)
Antipode	38.09°N / 3.343°W
Shaking intensity	Light shaking
Felt	6 reports
Primary data source	GEONET (NZ) (Earthquake Commission and Geological Survey, New Zealand)
Nearest volcano	Okataina (Tarawera) (14 km / 9 mi)
Nearby towns and cities	4 km (2 mi) WNW of Kawerau (pop: 6,700) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 20 km (12 mi) SW of Edgecumbe (pop: 1,790) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 32 km (20 mi) WSW of Whakatane (pop: 18,600) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 36 km (23 mi) E of Rotorua (pop: 65,900) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 62 km (39 mi) SE of Tauranga (pop: 110,300) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 83 km (51 mi) NE of Taupo (Waikato) (pop: 22,500) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 125 km (78 mi) ESE of Hamilton (Waikato) (pop: 152,600) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 390 km (242 mi) NNE of Wellington (pop: 381,900) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby
Weather at epicenter at time of quake	Broken Clouds 18.8°C (66 F), humidity: 91%, wind: 1 m/s (2 kts) from S
Estimated seismic energy released	4.5 x 10¹⁰ joules (12.4 megawatt hours, equivalent to 10.7 tons of TNT) \| about seismic energy

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Data for the same earthquake reported by different agencies

Info: The more agencies report about the same quake and post similar data, the more confidence you can have in the data. It takes normally up to a few hours until earthquake parameters are calculated with near-optimum precision.

Mag.	Depth	Location	Source
3.9	3.4 km	New Zealand	GEONET (NZ)
3.8	3 km	North Island, New Zealand	RaspberryShake
3.8	3 km	NORTH ISLAND OF NEW ZEALAND	EMSC

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User reports for this quake (8)

User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.

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Manawahe / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / 2-5 s : Outside, heard a boom and then steel shed started moving | One user found this interesting.

Maketu, Western Bay of Plenty District, Bay of Plenty (34.6 km NNW of epicenter) [Map] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 2-5 s

NEW zealand, Kawerau (4 km E of epicenter) [Map] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) : Walking in the house

Matata / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Rotorua / not felt

Kawerau / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating : Very strong vibration rattling of photos on walls and windows

kawerau / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Whakatane Hospital / not felt (reported through our app)

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