There is news emerging this morning of a magnitude 6.8 earthquake in New Zealand today. The earthquake was situated just offshore the east coast of North Island. It is clear that the town of Gisborne has suffered some damage, though at least initially casualties appear to be light. An earthquake of this magnitude is sufficiently strong to cause landslides, and New Zealand is a landslide-prone terrain, so it will be interesting to see whether any have been triggered.

My friends at GNS in New Zealand run the excellent GEONET monitoring web site for hazards in New Zealand – surely the world leader in this area – so I recommend that site as a link for information.