A complete systems check of all Southland District Council assets owned and operated within the Water & Waste Department, shows there is “no damage to facilities or equipment” following last night’s magnitude 5.9 earthquake, said a council spokesperson.

The quake struck at 9.14pm on Thursday, about 40km north of Te Anau, at a depth of 53km. It was initially recorded as magnitude 6.3 before being revised down. More than 20,000 people reported feeling the quake across Southland, Otago, Canterbury and other parts of the South Island.

GeoNet recorded a steady sequence of aftershocks near Te Anau overnight. These included a magnitude 3.4 shake at 9.57pm, a magnitude 3.6 at 11.32pm, a magnitude 3.8 at 2.26am and a magnitude 4.0 at 4.50am. Several smaller tremors were also detected, with further activity continuing into Friday morning.

The spokesperson said, “We will continue site visits today and over the weekend.  Monitoring systems are all showing normal activity and there are no issues.”

“All systems are running at normal and external governmental agencies such as Civil Defence have been notified,” they said.

“Inspections are still being carried out on our roading network and the airport runway at Te Anau. However, we don’t anticipate any issues.”

The Edith Cavell Bridge at Arthurs Point, near Queenstown, was closed overnight as a precaution and engineers were expected to inspect it at first light. Motorists travelling across the Crown Range were also warned to watch for rocks or debris on the road.

The earthquake initially triggered a tsunami warning for the South Island’s west coast between Milford Sound and Puysegur Point. It was later downgraded and then cancelled after monitoring equipment detected no tsunami signals during the two hours following the quake.

Authorities are expected to provide further information once daylight inspections of homes, roads, bridges and remote parts of Fiordland have been completed.