Magnitude 4.5 earthquake strikes near Wellington, Wellington City, New Zealand
4.5 quake 20 Feb 6:15 pm (GMT +13)

New Zealand's Earthquake Commission and Geological Survey (GeoNet) reported a magnitude 4.5 quake in New Zealand near Wellington, Wellington City, only 6 minutes ago. The earthquake hit early evening on Saturday 20 February 2021 at 6:15 pm local time at a shallow depth of 24.5 km. The exact magnitude, epicenter, and depth of the quake might be revised within the next few hours or minutes as seismologists review data and refine their calculations, or as other agencies issue their report.
Our monitoring service identified a second report from the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) which listed the quake at magnitude 4.5 as well.
Based on the preliminary seismic data, the quake should not have caused any significant damage, but was probably felt by many people as light vibration in the area of the epicenter.
Weak shaking might have been felt in Upper Hutt (pop. 38,400) located 9 km from the epicenter, Porirua (pop. 50,900) 10 km away, Lower Hutt (pop. 101,200) 14 km away, Petone (pop. 6,600) 16 km away, Paraparaumu (pop. 25,300) 21 km away, Khandallah (pop. 8,500) 21 km away, Wellington (pop. 381,900) 26 km away, and Levin (pop. 19,800) 58 km away.
Other towns or cities near the epicenter where the quake might have been felt as very weak shaking include Masterton (pop. 20,700) located 61 km from the epicenter.
VolcanoDiscovery will automatically update magnitude and depth if these change and follow up if other significant news about the quake become available. If you’re in the area, please send us your experience through our reporting mechanism, either online or via our mobile app. This will help us provide more first-hand updates to anyone around the globe who wants to know more about this quake.


Earthquake data:
Date & time: 20 Feb 2021 6:15 pm (GMT +13) local time (20 Feb 2021 05:15 GMT)
Magnitude: 4.5
Depth: 24.5 km
Epicenterlatitude / longitude: 41.1°S / 174.96°E (Porirua City, Wellington, New Zealand)
Primary data source: GEONET (NZ)
https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/earthquake/news/122301/Magnitude-45-earthquake-strikes-near-Wellington-Wellington-City-New-Zealand.html