Episode 1 of 4
Magnitude Estimation
- When
- 1855
- Where
- New Zealand
The earthquake is estimated at magnitude 8.2, the most powerful recorded in New Zealand since 1840.
This magnitude is unusually large for a strike-slip fault earthquake. The coseismic offset was the largest known for such an event. Three of the most recent events, including the 1855 earthquake, produced average slips of 16.5 m ± 2.2 m.
Sources
- 1855 Wairarapa earthquake Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-11
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.