Big quakes not affecting NZ but ‘a reminder to be ready’

First Fiji, then Lombok – there have been several large quakes in the southern hemisphere in recent weeks.

Does that put other seismically active places – such as New Zealand – at greater risk?

Caroline Little of GNS Science said waves from large quakes can sometimes trigger little events as they travelled around the globe, but none had been seen in New Zealand recently.

‘‘If you’re looking at permanent longterm stress transfer, Fiji is too far away,’’ she said. Similarly with Indonesia, which is even further away. It doesn’t increase the likelihood of there being a large earthquake in New Zealand,’’ Little said.

‘‘There’s always a possibility we could have a large earthquake here. Obviously we’ve had several in the past decade or so.

‘‘It’s just a reminder for all of us to have our kits and have our plans ready.’’

The latest in a string of major quakes struck Lombok, Indonesia shortly before

3am yesterday (NZ time). It had a magnitude of 6.9 and was centred about 26km deep, the US Geological Survey said.

That came within 10 hours of a 6.3 magnitude that was just 8km deep, and after a

31km-deep 6.9-magnitude quake on August

5 that killed 460 people, damaged tens of thousands of homes, and displaced several hundred thousand people.

There were also three very deep large earthquakes under the sea in the Fiji area on Sunday.

The first two were close together in time and depth, about 560km deep. The first had a magnitude of 8.2, and the second

6.3. The third about four hours later was further north, around 420km deep and had a magnitude of 6.8.