An earthquake of magnitude 6.8 occurred on Tuesday in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of New Zealand, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
Underground shocks were recorded at 06.59 UTC (09.59 Moscow time). The epicenter was located 214 kilometers northwest of the uninhabited island of Auckland. The hearth of the earthquake lay at a depth of 10 kilometers.
Information about possible victims and destruction was not received. The tsunami threat was not reported.
Through New Zealand is the Pacific “fire belt” – a strip of volcanoes and tectonic faults of 40 thousand kilometers in length. It encircles the Pacific Ocean, running along the coasts of South and North America to the southern part of Alaska, then turns to Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia and ends in the area of New Guinea, New Zealand and Southwest Oceania. It is in the “Ring of Fire” is the vast majority of the known volcanoes of the planet. In the same place, 90% of all earthquakes occur on Earth.
