A 鈥渇ew thousand dollars鈥 of broken bottles of spirits, wine, and beer on the floor was what a Bay of Plenty bottle store employee found when she arrived to work the morning after a swarm of earthquakes rocked the region at the weekend.
Residents reported feeling 鈥渏olting鈥 and shaking on social media after GeoNet recorded more than 332 earthquakes since the early hours of Saturday morning.
The first was a magnitude 3.4 tremor at 3.29am. It was 3km deep and 25km southwest of Whakat膩ne, near Kawerau.
The biggest quake was a magnitude 4.8 at 4.46am, while another was a magnitude 4.6.
Super Liquor Kawerau assistant manager Nicole Harris said the shop lost at least 鈥渁 few thousand dollars鈥 in stock. Broken bottles of spirits, wine and beer littered the floor when she arrived at 7.30am.
鈥淚 knew being a bottle store that we were going to have a bit of a clean-up but I didn鈥檛 quite predict this much damage.鈥
The clean-up had been hampered by more shakes that knocked more things over.
鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty scary, my heart is ticking and I鈥檝e spoken to my family and friends and they are all scared too,鈥 she said on Saturday morning.
Geonet said the 鈥渟warm鈥 of earthquakes was in a similar area to swarms that occurred in 2018 and 2019.
鈥淔eeling earthquakes close together in time can be unsettling, but this is typical activity for the area...鈥
Its team was 鈥渒eeping an eye on things鈥, it said.
A 鈥渇ew thousand dollars鈥 of stock was found on the floor of Super Liquor Kawerau after a swarm of earthquakes rocked the region at the weekend. Photo / Supplied
Abbie Dodds said it had been a very intense night with 鈥渢hree good long and strong ones with about 90 more slow wobbly shakes and short sharp jolts鈥.
鈥淎 lot of my neighbours made their way out onto the driveways. There was quite a bit of damage to house contents in my home with crockery smashed etc.鈥
It was a 鈥渨ild morning鈥, she said.
Kiri Schindler said she had felt more than 50 quakes in Kawerau that started at 3.30am when she was 鈥渟haken awake鈥 and some were 鈥渧ery strong鈥.
Schindler said the earthquakes could be heard before the shake happened and a few things had fallen over and broken in her house. She said it was a little scary and bought back memories when she was a child from the Edgecumbe earthquake.
Kendall Budd said there were a lot of small quakes 鈥渁lmost nose to tail鈥.
Budd said she could hear 鈥渃ontinuous rumbling鈥 and water spilled out of fish tanks that she had to siphon out at 4am.
Her animals were 鈥渂eside themselves鈥 and her dogs wanted to jump into the shower with her that morning, she said.
Residents on the Whakat膩ne Notice Board Facebook page said the quakes felt bigger than the official recorded magnitudes.
鈥淲hoa felt way bigger, the house was rocking hard out,鈥 one said.
鈥淏eing shallow we feel it more鈥, another said, while a third person said it was 鈥渜uite scary鈥 and they were 鈥渟till feeling mild aftershocks later on Saturday morning.
A 鈥渇ew thousand dollars鈥 of stock was found on the floor of Super Liquor Kawerau after a swarm of earthquakes rocked the region at the weekend. Photo / Supplied
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