Earthquake trio hits north of Bay of Plenty

Source: Radio New Zealand

The eastern North Island has been jostled by a trio of earthquakes north of Bay of Plenty on Tuesday evening.

GeoNet recorded the first quake at magnitude 5.6 at about 5km deep at 8pm, 135km north of Te Kaha.

An evening shake for the upper North Island, with an M5.6 earthquake with weak shaking occurring at 8:00pm in the Bay of Plenty. The quake was 5km deep and was felt across the north-east coast of the North Island. We have received over 2000 felt reports https://t.co/ElKxQ6n1z8 pic.twitter.com/TqVmo0dLs1

— GeoNet (@geonet) May 5, 2026

It was followed by another magnitude 4.2 quake at 8:05pm, much deeper at 33km and 110km north-west of Te Kaka.

At 8:28pm, the third earthquake was shallow again at 5km deep, but only registered magnitude 2.7.

By Tuesday evening, 1958 people had reported feeling the first quake across Auckland, Waikato, Coromandel and Bay of Plenty, most rating the shaking as ‘weak’ or ‘light.’

The second quake was felt by another 1,083 people and was similarly weak, while the third was only felt by 86 people.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand