A sequence of three major offshore
earthquakes, including a magnitude
8.1 quake near the Kermadec Islands, triggered tsunami warnings
and evacuations along the east coast of New Zealand on
the morning of March 5.
By early afternoon, the
National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) lifted
the evacuation order but stressed that people should stay
off beaches and the shore.
All three earthquakes
happened along the Tonga
Kermadec subduction zone, where the Pacific tectonic
plate dives under and then sinks beneath the Australian
plate.
This subduction zone is the longest and
deepest such system on Earth. It spans from just north of
the East Cape, some 2600km to the north-east in an almost