Christchurch
Earthquakes near Christchurch, 2017–2026
From 2017 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 10 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more within 100 km of Christchurch, or 200 km for magnitude 7 and above. None reached magnitude 6: the strongest was a magnitude 4.9 on February 11, 2017 (53 km N of Amberley, New Zealand).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded no earthquake of magnitude 4.5 or more within 100 km of Christchurch in the last 30 days.
What the record holds
2017 had the most magnitude 4.5+ earthquakes: 6 of the 10.
The events
Good to know
- An event counts for Christchurch when it began within 100 km of its centre, or 200 km for an earthquake of magnitude 7 or more. Damage can reach further.
- USGS counts are its ComCat catalogue’s earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more, aftershocks included.
- NOAA lists significant events only: earthquakes that killed, did about $1 million of damage, reached magnitude 7.5 or intensity X, or raised a tsunami, and eruptions and tsunamis by like measures. Magnitudes before 1900 are its estimates from written accounts.
- Deaths are NOAA’s total for each event, wherever people died, its tsunami and fires included. A tsunami counts the dead its runup records give for this place: NOAA’s total for a tsunami includes its source quake’s.
- A tsunami from elsewhere counts where one of its runups killed or rose a metre or more.
- Counted to October 19, 2026, as is the map. The last 30 days ask USGS again.
How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Earthquakes, live, The world through history