Strong earthquake moved New Zealand closer to Australia

A scientist said today that last week's 7.8 earthquake in New Zealand actually moved the country closer to Australia, revealing the force of the geologic event. New Zealand's geologist Ken Gledhill declared the two countries are about 12 inches (30 centimetres) closer to each other since the stroke, the biggest quake in New Zealand since 1931, and whose effects included a 3-feet (90 centimetres) tsunami in the Pacific.

The scientist said that the southwest of the South Island may have moved about 12-inches closer to Australia, but the east coast of the island moved less than an inch toward the west. Despite the power of this quake, so little evidence of damage can be superficially seen as the type of rupture that took place at the boundaries of the Australian and Pacific plates caused the energy from the quake to be largely directed westwards towards the sea rather than inland towards the nearest towns. No major damages were registered even in the main affected area, the Fiordland region of South Island's west coast.

For your information, the distance between Australia and New Zealand is of about 1,400 miles (2,250 kilometres).


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