Offshore quake prompts temporary evacuation of New Zealand coastal area

People living in coastal areas of New Zealand closest to a huge earthquake that struck offshore early on Friday were temporarily ordered to evacuate due to fears of a tsunami. GNS SEISMOLOGIST, BILL FRY <<< "All of the North Island would have felt a stronger earthquake very early, people in the north-east North Island in the Araroa peninsula and environs would have felt extreme shaking, strong shaking, it would have been maybe one of the largest earthquakes they had ever felt."  According to government earthquake detection service Geonet, the magnitude 7.1 quake struck at 4:37 a.m. at a depth of 55 km (34 miles), 130 km north-east of Te Araroa, off the North Island.