Earthquake jolts New Zealands South Island .  WELLINGTON 1996-08-29  An earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale shook New Zealands upper South Island on Thursday but there were no reports of injuries , Television New Zealand said .  It said the quake , centred near the small town of Waiau , was strongly felt in the cities of Nelson and Christchurch .  Some minor damage had been reported in the spa town of Hanmer .  New Zealand is prone to frequent earthquakes but they rarely cause major damage .  The country has only 3.5 million people in an area about the size of Britain or [START_ENT] Japan [END_ENT] .
Earthquake jolts New Zealands South Island .  WELLINGTON 1996-08-29  An earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale shook New Zealands upper South Island on Thursday but there were no reports of injuries , Television New Zealand said .  It said the quake , centred near the small town of Waiau , was strongly felt in the cities of Nelson and Christchurch .  Some minor damage had been reported in the spa town of Hanmer .  New Zealand is prone to frequent earthquakes but they rarely cause major damage .  The country has only 3.5 million people in an area about the size of Britain or
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