March 2, 1956 Earthquake: North Island, New Zealand
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck North Island, New Zealand on March 2, 1956 at 22:43 UTC. It caused a tsunami.
Map
Where it struck, with the other significant earthquakes within 200 km. Circles are sized and colored by magnitude; select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Date
- March 2, 1956
- Time
- 22:43 UTC
- Place
- North Island, New Zealand
- Magnitude
- 5.3 (Ms)
- Intensity
- VII, very strong shaking, on the Modified Mercalli scale
- Tsunami
- Yes: the tsunami it caused
- Epicenter
- 38.900° S, 175.700° E
- Country
- New Zealand
- Region
- Central and South Pacific
The toll
- Damage
- Limited (under about $1 million)
Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
Slight damage to chimneys and stacked goods in shops occurred in Tokaanu on 1956 March 3 at 1043 NZST as the result of a shock of magnitude 5.3 centred some 15 km to the north-west of the settlement. Felt intensities reached MM6-7. Owing to the small focal depth, the shock was not felt at distances greater than about 100 km from the epicentre. Numerous aftershocks followed.
Officers of the N. Z. Geological Survey who visited the area reported that gas was "boiling" from the bed of Lake Taupo near the village of Waihi. They attributed this to the liberation of methane which had been trapped in the sediment of the lake bed. A wave 0.9 m high was reported at the delta of the Tongariro River. No new displacements of any of the many known faults in the area were detected. (Extracted and abridged from the Atlas of Isoseismal Maps of New Zealand Earthquakes 2nd edition (Downes & Dowrick, 2009), which lists key references relevant to this event) (reference #5324)
Sources NCEI cites
The publications NCEI lists for this record. The numbers match the “reference #” notes in its account above.
- #5324 Downes, Gaye L. (2008). New Zealand Tsunami Digital Database, GNS Science, Lower Hutt, New Zealand.
- #4109 Whiteside, Lowell S., David T. Dater, Paula K. Dunbar, Stewart D. Racey, Ronald W. Buhmann, Allen M. Hittelman (1996). Seismicity Catalog CD collection, Volumes 1 and 2, National Geophysical Data Center, Boulder, Colorado, http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazard/fliers/se-0208.shtml
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- February 2, 1931, Hawke Bay, New Zealand
- July 18, 2004, Rotorua, Tauranga, North Island, New Zealand
- March 2, 1987, North Island, Whakatani, Edgecumbe, New Zealand
- November 30, 2022, Taupo, New Zealand
- August 18, 1895, Taupo, New Zealand
- October 5, 1980, Gisborne, Hawera, Eastbourne, Napier, New Zealand
- February 21, 1973, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand
- July 8, 1843, Wanganui, New Zealand
- July 5, 1845, N. New Zealand
- February 13, 1931, Northern New Zealand
- February 19, 1931, Northern New Zealand
- August 25, 2008, North Island, New Zealand
- September 15, 1932, Gisborne, Wairoa, New Zealand
- May 13, 1990, Dannevirke, Wellington, New Zealand
- September 8, 1991, Wellington, Wanganui, New Zealand
More
Significant earthquakes of 1956The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1956Recent earthquakes near hereThis day in weather history
Sources
Significant earthquakes from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-10-01. NCEI earthquake 10063.