A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck near Geraldine in the centre of New Zealand’s South Island on Thursday, government seismic monitor Geonet said, but initial reports indicate no injuries or significant damage.
The earthquake, the largest in the country this year, hit at 9:14 am (2114 GMT) Wednesday at a focal depth of 11 km. GeoNet said more than 14,000 people had reported feeling the shake, some as far north as Auckland in the North Island.
Sarah Hussey, a farmer close to the epicentre, said the quake had been stronger than others she remembered.
"There's no damage here, but I thought it was thunder for a start. The house lifted up for a bit," she told TVNZ's 1News.
Scott Shannon, deputy mayor of Timaru near the centre of the earthquake, told Radio NZ there had been no immediate reports of damage but checks were ongoing.
The quake struck not far from where a 6.3 magnitude quake hit in 2011, killing 185 people and causing major damage in the South Island city of Christchurch.
At least one person was killed and 10 injured, including three children, in overnight drone attacks by Russia on Ukraine, officials said on Wednesday. Various attacks also damaged energy facilities in two regions, according to the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Israel announced a major expansion of military operations in Gaza on Wednesday, saying large areas of the enclave would be seized and added to its security zones, accompanied by large-scale evacuation of population.
A fourth US Army soldier, who together with three others went missing in Lithuania last week when their vehicle sank in a peat bog, has been found dead, US and Lithuanian officials said on Tuesday.
The United Nations on Tuesday dismissed as "ridiculous" an assertion by Israel that there was enough food in the Gaza Strip to last for a long period of time, despite the closure of all 25 bakeries supported by the World Food Programme (WFP).