‘Bloody shambles’ in Kawerau as rolling earthquakes rock Bay of Plenty

Kawerau businesses are in “bloody shambles” after rolling, “jolting” earthquakes that have continued through Saturday morning.

Nicole Harris said her bones were still rattled from the continuous quakes that caused thousands of worth of damage at Super Liquor Kawerau.

Have you been affected by the earthquakes? Let us know at newstips@stuff.co.nz

GeoNet said it had recorded a “swarm” of more than 40 earthquakes so far, between magnitude 2.5 and 4.8, around Whakatāne and Tauranga. The earthquakes started at 3.29am with the most recent being recorded at 9.03am at a depth of 6km.

Harris is the duty manager at the liquor store and was home when she felt the first quake.

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“I was up at 3.30am for the first big one when my daughter came running from the caravan.

“We were pretty much up since then with all the tremors happening, because you just want to be prepared in case you had to run outside.”

She arrived at the store at 7.30am for a clean-up but the shake around 9am knocked everything off the shelves again.

“I don’t really see it opening today, it is a bloody shambles in here.”

Harris said half of the store’s stock had been damaged, with costs running into the thousands.

“Some of our bottles alone are over $150 or $250, when you add up each one, it is a lot.

“It was scary enough to be home with kids and then come to work and try to clean it up and it is still shaking.

“You just want to run outside and stand in the middle of the f…… road.”

Harris said she had never experienced anything like that before.

“I am definitely rattled from this… Since I moved to Kawerau, I have experienced earthquakes, but nothing quite like we have felt overnight.

“That’s enough to rattle my bones.”

Despite the damage, Harris was glad the quakes did not happen on the Hawke’s Bay side.

“They have got enough devastation as it is.”

Around 20 staff were inside New World Kawerau cleaning up from the early morning earthquake when they felt another one around 9am.

A spokesperson said most things – grocery, beauty products, bottles – were knocked off the shelves.

“We are not going to open today.”

Another local described a “large crack followed by shakes” in Ohope as the latest quake hit.

“Feeling earthquakes close together in time can be unsettling, but this is typical activity for the area,” GeoNet said on Twitter. “Our team is keeping an eye on things.”