Quake makes Antipodes closer

New Zealand and Australia have moved a little closer after a big earthquake, scientists say.

The 7.8 magnitude quake in the Tasman Sea last week has expanded New Zealand's South Island westwards by about 30cm. But there is still a long way to go to close the 1,400-mile gap between the countries.

Seismologist Ken Gledhill, of GNS Science, said the shift demonstrated the huge force of the tremor. The quake was powerful enough to generate a small tsunami with a wave of three feet recorded on the west coast of New Zealand.

People in coastal areas were advised to move to higher ground for a time.

While the south-west of the South Island moved about 30cm towards Australia, the east coast moved only one centimetre westwards, Dr Gledhill said.

"Basically, New Zealand just got a little bit bigger," he said. Although it was New Zealand's biggest earthquake in 78 years, it caused only slight damage to buildings when it struck in the remote Fiordland region west of Invercargill last Thursday.

"For a very large earthquake, there were very few areas that were severely shaken," Dr Gledhill said.

GNS Science is a research organisation run by the New Zealand government. The country frequently suffers earthquakes as it sits on a fault line.