Record-breaking 32,828 quakes hit New Zealand in 2016
Wellington - New Zealand seismologists have dubbed 2016 "the Groundbreaker" after the country was shaken by 32,828 earthquakes, including two tremors greater than magnitude 7.0.
"Let me sum up: we had geysers, eruptions, landslides, tsunami and a whole lotta earthquakes. The ground broke under our feet, and that is why we are calling this year the 'groundbreaker','" GeoNet's Sara McBride wrote in a blog post on Sunday.
"It should also be known as the 'record breaker'", she added.
GeoNet's monitoring network recorded 32,828 earthquakes in 2016, over 12,000 more than previous years' averages. It's also the highest number ever recorded in GeoNet's 15-year history.
"You'd be hard pressed to find someone who wasn't impacted, in some way, by earthquakes in New Zealand this year," McBride wrote.
On September 2 a magnitude 7.1 quake struck 22 kilometres deep off the northeast coast of New Zealand. Although a small tsunami was generated the damage on land was minimal.
More than two months later, on November 14, a magnitude 7.8 quake close to Kaikoura on New Zealand's South Island ruptured faults, tore through the earth and raised the seabed.
Two people died as a result of the earthquake and it also caused tens of millions of dollars worth of damage to buildings and roads.
New Zealand sits on the "Ring of Fire," an arc of seismic faults around the Pacific Ocean where earthquakes are common. An earthquake in Christchurch in 2010 killed 185 people.
