Live GeoNet feed of earthquakes recorded near Queenstown, with the Alpine Fault story behind them and the official channels for when the ground shakes.
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From Town Tools. For the current version, visit https://www.towntools.org/queenstown-otago-nz/quakes-near-town
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.
The Alpine Fault runs the length of the Southern Alps within about 40–80 km of Queenstown and is New Zealand's largest, most active geological structure. GNS Science's AF8 research programme puts the probability of it rupturing at 75% within the next 50 years, with roughly a 4-in-5 chance that rupture is magnitude 8 or larger. Its last major rupture was in 1717 — over the fault's average 300-year recurrence interval, based on an 8,000-year, 27-rupture record.
Smaller, more frequent quakes come from the wider network of faults across Fiordland and Central Otago — Fiordland alone produces some of the country's largest quakes (magnitude 7.8 in 2009, 7.2 in 2003), both felt strongly in Queenstown without causing major local damage. Most of what this page lists day to day will be minor and unfelt; it is the pattern over time, not any single quake, that matters here.
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.