1929 Murchison earthquake
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| Date | 17 June 1929 |
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| Origin time | 10:17 AM local |
| Magnitude | Ms 7.8, Mw 7.3 |
| Depth | 12 km (7.5 mi) |
| Epicenter | 41°33′S 172°15′E / 41.55°S 172.25°ECoordinates: 41°33′S 172°15′E / 41.55°S 172.25°E |
| Areas affected | South Island New Zealand |
| Casualties | 17 |
The 1929 Murchison earthquake occurred at 10:17 AM on 17 June. It struck the Murchison region of the South Island, with an estimated magnitude of 7.3, and was felt throughout New Zealand. There were 17 casualties, mostly as a result of landslides triggered by the earthquake. The rumbling sound of the earthquake was loud enough to be heard at New Plymouth, more than 250 km (155 mi) away.
New Zealand sits astride the boundary between the Indo-Australian Plate and the Pacific Plate. In the South Island most of the displacement is taken up on the Alpine Fault passing to the north onto a set of strike-slip faults, the Marlborough Fault System. The sense of displacement across the plate boundary is oblique and most of the faults have a reverse component of slip. Some of the resulting deformation is accommodated within the plates themselves away from the boundary. The 1929 Murchison earthquake occurred on the White Creek Fault, located in the Buller Gorge.
Although the epicentre was in a sparsely populated area about 65 km (40 mi) north of Murchison, the shaking in the surrounding region was sufficiently intense to cause damage over a wide area. The towns of Nelson, Greymouth and Westport were all affected and roads, buildings and bridges were severely damaged throughout an area estimated at 26,000 km2 (10,000 mi2) The worst damage was caused by landslides triggered by the shaking, which destroyed several homes and resulting in 14 out of the 17 deaths caused by the earthquake. Most of the buildings in the Murchison area were built of wood and were warped and moved from their piles, but many brick buildings and chimneys were damaged in Nelson, Greymouth and Westport.
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