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From Town Tools. For the current version, visit https://www.towntools.org/kaikoura-canterbury-nz/recent-earthquakes
If an earthquake lasts longer than a minute, or is strong enough that it's hard to stand up, don't wait for an official warning — move immediately to high ground or as far inland as you can. A tsunami from a quake this close can arrive in minutes. That is New Zealand's official advice for this coast, and it comes before any siren, phone alert or this page.
This page is not an earthquake warning
Every quake here was recorded after it happened — no one can predict earthquakes, and this page cannot warn you of one. What it can do is show what the ground has been doing lately. If you feel a long or violent quake near the coast, act on the advice above without waiting for any alert.
Kaikōura sits in one of New Zealand's most active earthquake regions — on the Marlborough Fault System (the Hope, Kekerengu, Awatere and Clarence faults) above the offshore Hikurangi subduction margin.
At two minutes past midnight on 14 November 2016, a magnitude 7.8 quake ruptured more than 20 faults at once — one of the most complex ever recorded on land. It lifted about 110 km of coast by up to six metres, set off more than 10,000 landslides, and cut State Highway 1 and the railway for roughly a year. Two people died.
A quiet week is normal and a felt shake is part of life here. The faults haven't gone anywhere, so the habit that matters is the one below: near the coast, a long or violent quake is your cue to move, without waiting for anyone to tell you.
Checked 13 October at 12:51 am. Earthquake data from GeoNet (GeoNet / GNS Science, CC BY 3.0 NZ). Magnitude, depth and felt intensity are revised as analysis improves, and very fresh quakes can take minutes to appear.