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Factbox-New Zealand's biggest earthquakes



    WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand suffered one of its worst natural disasters on Tuesday when a 6.3-magnitude earthquake hit its second-biggest city of Christchurch, a city of almost 400,000 people.

    New Zealand straddles the Pacific and Indo-Australian tectonic plates and records on average more than 14,000 tremors a year, of which about 20 would normally exceed magnitude 5.0.

    The following is a list of New Zealand's biggest and most destructive quakes since 1848:

    February 22, 2011 - A 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit Christchurch, killing at least 65 people and caused widespread damage because it was shallow and close to the city centre.

    September 4, 2010 - A 7.1 magnitude shake struck Christchurch, causing an estimated NZ$4 billion (1.90 pounds) billionin damage, making it the most destructive quake since 1931. There were no deaths and only two serious injuries.

    July 16, 2009 - A 7.8 earthquake struck the remote southwest Fiordland region of New Zealand's South Island, causing a small tsunami. It caused only slight damage to buildings.

    December 20, 2007 - A 6.8 magnitude quake hit the North Island city of Gisborne. It caused no casualties.

    March 2, 1987 - A 6.8 magnitude quake struck the Bay of Plenty region on the east coast of the North Island. The shallow quake caused widespread damage to small towns but there were no casualties.

    May 24, 1968 - A 7.1 magnitude quake hit a sparsely populated area around the town of Inangahua in the South Island, killing three people and caused widespread destruction. It was felt over much of the country.

    August 2, 1942 - Wairarapa, in the lower North Island, was struck with a 7.0 magnitude quake, just five weeks after it had been hit with a slightly stronger tremor.

    June 24, 1942 - An earthquake measuring 7.2 hit Wairarapa, killing one person but causing extensive damage.

    March 5, 1934 - A 7.6 magnitude quake struck in the lower North Island and was felt as far away as Auckland in the north and Dunedin in the South Island. The quake caused widespread damage, but no one was killed.

    February 3, 1931 - A 7.8 quake hit Napier, Hawke's Bay, killing 256 people, the country's deadliest natural disaster. It also caused extensive damage.

    June 17, 1929 - A 7.8 quake struck in the top of the South Island, killing 17 people.

    January 13, 1855 - An earthquake measuring 8.2 on the open-ended Richter scale hit Wellington, lifting land levels by up to three metres and killing four settlers and an unspecified number of indigenous Maori.

    October 16, 1848 - A 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Marlborough, at the top of the South Island, killing three people. (

    (Reporting by Mantik Kusjanto; Editing by Mark Bendeich)