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Earth quake jolts

central New Zealand

WELLINGTON, (New Zealand) Residents of the lower North Island and upper South Island on Saturday had a second early morning earthquake wake-up of the week.

The Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences in Wellington said, the latest quake, felt as a double-swaying motion, had a magnitude of 5.3. It was centred 20 kilometre (12 miles) northeast of the South Island town of Picton, 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of the capital, Wellington.

Police said, there were no immediate reports of damage.

Early Thursday morning quakes with magnitudes of 5.7 and 4.2 woke many across central New Zealand.

Those quakes were centred about 80 kilometre (50 miles) north of the capital near the rural Wairarapa township of Greytown.

Seismologist Ken Gledhill said there was no direct relationship between the quakes.

"Sometimes you do get clusters of quakes which occur together, but this one was quite a distance away.... it's just that following so soon after the Greytown quake people get a bit excited," he said.

Quakes often occur in the region of Saturday's 5:56 a.m. shake at about the same depth, Gledhill said. Because of the quake's depth of 50 kilometres (30 miles) it was unlikely aftershocks would be felt.ÑAP