December 2010 Christchurch earthquake
| UTC time | 2010-12-25 21:30:15 |
|---|---|
| ISC event | 15882518 |
| USGS-ANSS | ComCat |
| Local date | 26 December 2010 |
| Local time | 10:30am NZDT (UTC+13) |
| Magnitude | Mw 4.7 mb 4.5 |
| Depth | 4–5 km (2–3 mi) |
| Epicentre | 43°33′S 172°38′E / 43.55°S 172.63°E |
| Areas affected | Christchurch, New Zealand |
| Max. intensity | MMI VI (Strong) |
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On 26 December 2010 a Mw4.7 earthquake occurred directly under the city centre of Christchurch, New Zealand, at a depth of between 4 and 5 km (2.5 and 3.1 mi). It caused "significant damage" to Christchurch and was part of the earthquake sequence beginning with the September 2010 Darfield earthquake, and followed by the 2011 Christchurch earthquake. As the earthquake occurred on Boxing Day, it is locally referred to as the Boxing Day earthquake rather than the December 2010 Christchurch earthquake. Businesses running their Boxing Day promotions at the time lost revenue due to the earthquake, and responded by re-running Boxing Day sales on 12 February 2011.
The earthquake caused strong ground shaking in the city centre but there were no casualties. It caused some masonry to fall onto streets, windows to break and a few walls to collapse, with damage being worst in the pedestrian mall City Mall. Damage mostly occurred on buildings that had been affected by the Darfield earthquake and its earlier aftershocks. Cordons were placed around two blocks and multiple separate buildings, and were mostly gone within a day. By 14 January, the Earthquake Commission received 6,895 damage claims.