Large earthquakes happen regularly, but there has been a run of populated areas being hit, GNS seismologist Terry Webb said.
Big earthquakes occur regularly with many occurring under the ocean or in sparsely populated areas.
If they don't cause damage they don't register in the public consciousness. Global earthquake statistics for the past 20 years showed there was a relatively steady occurrence of big quakes. Recent large earthquakes in Turkey, Greece, and Taiwan were not out of place in a global sense. Dr Webb said there was no scientific evidence to support suggestions that a big quake in New Zealand could be triggered by this week's magnitude 7.6 quake in Taipei. There's no clear evidence that stress triggering can happen over much larger distances.