Jacinda Ardern's Live TV Interview Interrupted By Earthquake: ‘Quite A Decent Shake Here’
An earthquake struck near New Zealand’s capital on Monday morning, shaking many residents including prime minister Jacinda Ardern who continued with a live TV interview at the parliament building.
The 5.8 magnitude earthquake was 37km deep and the epicentre was 30km northwest of Levin, a city in New Zealand’s North Island close to the capital Wellington, according to Geonet.
Geonet first classified the earthquake as magnitude 5.9. Although no damage was reported it lasted for more than 30 seconds and caused panic in Wellington with several people in offices and homes getting under their tables for cover.
Why am I not surprised that Jacinda Ardern casually takes an earthquake interrupting her interview in her stridepic.twitter.com/mq4h6LuTfC
— 🇳🇿 • eloise • 🇫🇷 (@reyloise) May 24, 2020
The tremors started as Ardern was on TV from the parliament building, called the beehive.
“Quite a decent shake here ... if you see things moving behind me. The beehive moves a little more than most,” she joked on the AM Show on Newshub.
Ardern assured the host that she was safe and the interview resumed.
“I’m not under any hanging lights and I look like I am in a structurally strong place,” she added.
When updated later on the earthquake she said it was “not an unreasonable shake”.
That was a sharp shake for a Monday morning, NZ! M5.8, centred 30 kilometres NW of Levin and 45 kilometres deep. We've registered nearly 37,000 felt reports from all over the country - from north of Auckland to Dunedin. Hope everyone's OK! #eqnzhttps://t.co/HRXg8fQ2RZpic.twitter.com/qgZFEL4SRW
— GeoNet (@geonet) May 24, 2020
New Zealand lies on the seismically active “Ring of Fire”, a 40,000km arc of volcanoes and ocean trenches girdling much of the Pacific Ocean.
The city of Christchurch is still recovering from a 6.3 magnitude quake in 2011 that killed 185 people.
In 2016, a 7.8 magnitude tremor hit the South Island town of Kaikoura, killing two and causing billions of...
