The Inangah.ua earthquake of 1968 May 23 (May 24 , 5.24 a.m. local time) was the first New Zealand earthquake to reach magnitude 7 since that in Fiordland on 1960 May 24. (Unless otherwise stated all dates and times in this paper are expressed in Universal Time. To obtain New Zealand Standard Time add 12 h.) It became the sixteenth New Zealand earthquake believed to have reached magnitude 7 or greater since 1848, since when all such earthquakes should have been observed. Earthquakes of this magnitude, therefore, occur somewhere in New Zealand on an average of about once every eight years, and cannot be considered unusual events.