Wellington

Earthquakes near Wellington through history

From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 9 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more within 100 km of Wellington, or 200 km for magnitude 7 and above. 3 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest on either list was an estimated magnitude 8 on January 23, 1855 (Wellington,Waiouru,Wanganui,Otaki).

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The last 30 days · as of

USGS recorded no earthquake of magnitude 4.5 or more within 100 km of Wellington in the last 30 days.

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What the record holds

The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 7.4 on February 2, 1931 (47 km WSW of Hastings, New Zealand), for which NOAA records 261 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 14 here, back to 1843. NOAA records deaths in 3 of the events here, 265 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 6.5 on August 16, 2013 (29 km SE of Blenheim, New Zealand). NOAA’s record here begins on July 8, 1843 with an earthquake (Wanganui). 8 of the 14 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here came before 1927. NOAA lists 7 tsunamis that began within 100 km of Wellington, and 4 from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 11 m, on January 23, 1855. The deadliest, on February 26, 1905, killed one person here by NOAA’s runup records.

The events

Good to know

  • An event counts for Wellington 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 here start at magnitude 6: the catalogue’s smaller quakes thin out going back, where few instruments listened.
  • 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

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