We’re All Moving East Round Here

We’re moving east — about 4 cm so far this year. That’s thanks to a slow-slip earthquake on the Hikurangi subduction plate boundary offshore the North Island’s east coast. We tend to think of earthquakes as short sharp shocks, but: slow slip events are like earthquakes in slow motion, unfolding over weeks to months and cannot be felt by humans. The Hikurangi subduction zone – the boundary between the Australian and Pacific Plates – extends along the east coast and dives westward underneath the North Island.