Wellington apartment block evacuated after residents feel 'shaking'
By David Williams
Multimedia Journalist·NZ Herald·
6 Oct, 2024 05:37 PM3 mins to read
An apartment block in central Wellington was evacuated overnight after some residents reported “shaking in the building”.
Fire and Emergency Central shift manager Murray Dunbar said FENZ received reports late last night that “could indicate structural damage” at a residential apartment complex on Victoria St.
Wellington was struck by a 5.7 magnitude earthquake earlier in the day.
“Residents have been evacuated as a precaution while we work with the Wellington City Council and structural engineers to assess what’s actually going on,” Dunbar said.
Cordons were put up with surrounding roads closed, and the council set up a welfare centre on Willis St.
One person said an engineer couldn’t figure out what the shaking was so the building had to be cleared.
It was deemed safe to re-enter around midnight with residents allowed back in.
The Victoria Lane Apartments were opened in March last year and were prized as Wellington’s first base-isolated apartment development.
Several buildings in the city have been checked over following the earthquake that hit at 5.08am yesterday, located 25km west of Wellington in Cook Strait.
The earthquake was the strongest recorded in New Zealand since a magnitude 5.7 event just over a year ago on September 20, 2023, near Geraldine in Canterbury.
It was also the latest in a recent series of quakes in Cook Strait, which included a 4.8 event on August 5 and a 5.0 event last Tuesday, just northeast of Seddon.
More than 37,000 people reported feeling it, according to the GeoNet website. It was detected as far north as Auckland and far south as Christchurch.
A magnitude 4.8 earthquake also struck late on Sunday night in southeastern Hawke’s Bay, about 5km from Pōrangahau.
It had a shallow depth of 16km and was considered a strong quake by GNS Science.
The GeoNet website showed more than 2000 people across the central and lower North Island reported feeling the shake about 11.20pm.
There were eight aftershocks between 12.05am and 4.05am, the strongest being a magnitude 3.3 quake just before 3am.
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