{"id":542388,"date":"2026-07-24T18:49:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T18:49:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/542388\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T18:49:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T18:49:21","slug":"severe-magnitude-5-9-quake-strikes-near-taumarunui","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/542388\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Severe’ magnitude 5.9 quake strikes near Taumarunui"},"content":{"rendered":"

A “severe” magnitude 5.9 earthquake has struck the central North Island this morning. <\/p>\n

The quake struck at 4.51am on Saturday, and was centred 5km south of Taumarunui at a depth of 9km. <\/p>\n

According to GeoNet, more than 22,000 people across the North and South Island reported feeling the shaking. <\/p>\n

Did you feel the earthquake? Contact us at news@tvnz.co.nz<\/p>\n

Several aftershocks, classified as “light”, were felt in the area shortly afterwards, according to GeoNet. <\/p>\n

Civil Defence Manawat\u016b Whanganui said there had been no immediate reports of injuries or building damage, with power, water and communication systems all operating as normal in the area. <\/p>\n

“Minor slips have been reported in the area, so if you’re on the road please drive with care,” it said.<\/p>\n

“Emergency services and roading crews are assessing the situation, but a fuller view of any impacts is unlikely to be available until the sun comes up.” <\/p>\n

The quake comes just over a week after a magnitude 5.9 quake struck<\/a> near Te Anau, which shook homes across Otago, Southland and parts of Canterbury and was felt by thousands of people.<\/p>\n

‘Shook the whole house’<\/p>\n

In Auckland, dozens of Facebook users reported feeling the shaking, while one person in Hamilton said: “The bed was shaking. Felt heavier than a truck going past.”<\/p>\n

In Waikato, one Te Awamutu reesident described it as a “good shake”, while another in Te K\u016biti, one person said the quake “shook the whole house”. <\/p>\n

In Tauranga, one user described “large pots falling off the shelf” as their house shook, while a resident in Midhirst, Taranaki described it as a “huge quake”.<\/p>\n

Further east, a resident in Dannevirke, Hawke’s Bay reported a “good jolt”, while in Blenheim, one user described the shaking as “strong”.<\/p>\n

More to come. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A “severe” magnitude 5.9 earthquake has struck the central North Island this morning. The quake struck at 4.51am…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":542389,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[8215,31044,111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-542388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-earthquakes","tag-manawatu-wanganui","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=542388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}