M6.8 earthquake near Masterton, Wellington Region

What happened

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck 56 km SSE of Castlepoint, New Zealand on 5 Aug 1917, 15:50 UTC at a depth of 15 km.

Earthquakes of this size are classed as Strong. Can cause damage in populated areas up to tens of kilometres away. This was a shallow earthquake, which tends to be felt more strongly at the surface.

The nearest town in our records is Masterton, about 82 km away in Wellington Region, New Zealand.