By Courtney Spamer, Meteorologist
July 21,2013; 11:20AM,EDT
On Sunday evening, a 6.5 earthquake shook central parts of the country.
The epicenter was reported 52 km (32 miles) south-southwest of Wellington, the second biggest city in New Zealand. Dramatic shaking was felt in other cities, from Blenheim and Seddon to smaller tremors in areas much further away, including Christchurch.
Aftershocks were also felt following the rather strong quake
Sunday morning's quake followed a series of smaller earthquakes from Friday and Saturday that spawned checks of a few buildings in Wellington.
Map above courtesy of Google Public Alerts
Only minor damage was reported with this quake, with things falling off of shelves and some power outages.
Because the offshore earthquake was below a 7.5 on the Richter Scale, no tsunami threat has been considered.
A GSN Science seismologist, Anna Kaiser, told The New Zealand Herald that it is not uncommon for earthquakes in the area to reach such a magnitude.
The quake occurred along a fault line between the Australian and Pacific Plate, in one of the most active seismology areas in he world.
In February 2011, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck near Christchurch, causing extensive damage. Many bystanders said that Sunday evenings shake felt much like the Christchurch one just over two years ago.
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