Earthquakes in New Zealand, 2017–2026
From 2017 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 591 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in or off New Zealand. The strongest was a magnitude 7.3 on March 4, 2021 (182 km NE of Gisborne, New Zealand).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded 4 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 5.3 on October 15 (43 km SSE of Otorohanga, New Zealand).
What the record holds
3 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. 2021 had the most magnitude 4.5+ earthquakes: 188 of the 591. 137 came in the 30 days after the strongest, within 150 km of it. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 6.7 on March 25, 2025 (170 km WSW of Riverton, New Zealand). NOAA lists 4 tsunamis that began in or off New Zealand. The highest water NOAA records here was 1 m, on November 30, 2022. NOAA lists one significant eruption of one volcano in or off New Zealand. The largest was Whakaari/White Island on December 9, 2019, at 2 on the volcanic explosivity index. It killed 22 people by NOAA’s count.
The events
- March 25, 2025Earthquake · M 6.7170 km WSW of Riverton, New ZealandUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- May 31, 2023Earthquake · M 6.3Auckland Islands, New Zealand regionUSGS
- November 30, 2022Tsunami · 1 m hereLake Taupo, North IslandNOAA NCEI
- March 6, 2021Earthquake · M 6.3183 km NE of Gisborne, New ZealandUSGS
- March 4, 2021Earthquake · M 7.3182 km NE of Gisborne, New ZealandUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- December 9, 2019Eruption · VEI 2Whakaari/White Island · 22 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- July 11, 2017Earthquake · M 6.6Auckland Islands, New Zealand regionUSGS
Good to know
- An event counts for New Zealand when it began inside its borders, or at sea within 100 km of its coast (so one can count for two neighbours), or further out, up to 300 km, where New Zealand is the nearest country.
- 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.
- The map frames the box around New Zealand, its neighbours’ quakes included, so its count runs higher than this page’s.
- 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