A large 6.4 magnitude Kermadec Trench earthquake shook New Zealand in the early hours of this morning.

The quake occurred at a depth of 33 km and was widely felt from Auckland to as far south as Dunedin

From Wikipedia

The Kermadec trench is one of Earth’s deepest oceanic trenches, reaching a depth of 10,047 metres (32,963 ft). Formed by the subduction of the Pacific Plate under the  Indo-Australian Plate, it runs over a thousand kilometres parallel with and to the east of the Kermadec Ridge and island arc, from near the northeastern tip of New Zealand’s North Island to the trench’s junction with the Louisville seamount chain northeast of Monowai Seamount. The Tonga Trench marks the continuation of subduction beyond this point. Subduction south of the Kermadec trench is marked by the shallower Hikurangi Trench.

Kermadec trench is specially noted by its very abrupt slope.

Trademe forum buzzing

Despite the early hour and within  seconds of the quake, Trademe contributors were talking about it on-line, with reports of it being felt in Palmerston North,

Wellington, Feilding, Levin, the Bay of Plenty, Christchurch and Papamoa beach (near Tauranga)