It is in the nature of earthquakes that they tend to cluster in space and time.
And Tuesday's damaging tremor in Christchurch is almost certainly related to the much more energetic event that hit the region last September.
But whereas last year's quake caused relatively little damage and no deaths, the natural disaster that struck the city on 22 February looks set to go down in the record books as one of the most catastrophic in New Zealand's history.
The critical difference on this occasion is that the ground broke almost directly under the country's second city, and at shallow depth.
Christchurch would have been subjected to intense shaking. Masonry collapse was widespread, even in a city where earthquake building regulations are among the strictest in the world.
Seismologists began to record the biggest tremor, a magnitude 6.3, on their equipment at 12:51 and 43 seconds local time (23:51:43 GMT) - right in the middle of Christchurch's day.
The focus, the point in the Earth where the rocks first rupture, was a mere 5km (3 miles) below the surface.
Contrast this with September's magnitude 7.0 event; its epicentre occurred some 40km west of the city and at a depth of 10km, and it continued to rupture mainly away from the major built-up areas.
John Key, New Zealand prime minister, has said the death toll from the 6.3-magnitude earthquake that struck the city of Christchurch has risen to at least 65.
The death toll from Tuesday's earthquake is expected to rise with hundreds of people still reported trapped in buildings on what the prime minister said "may be New Zealand's darkest day".
Key said eight or nine buildings had collapsed. And the spire of the iconic stone Christchurch Cathedral toppled into a central city square.
Bob Parker, Christchurch mayor, declared a state of emergency and ordered people to evacuate the city center.
Video footage showed some multi-storey buildings collapsed in on themselves, while walls of some others collapsed into the streets. MORE
A group of Japanese students and teachers are believed to be trapped in the rubble of a school that collapsed when New Zealand’s second-largest city Christchurch was hit by an earthquake Tuesday, according to Japan’s foreign ministry.MORE
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — The earthquake that struck Christchurch has caused some 30 million tons of ice to break off from New Zealand's biggest glacier.
Tour guides at the Tasman Glacier in the Southern Alps say the quake caused the ice to "calve" from the glacier, forming icebergs in the terminal lake.MORE
As night falls in Christchurch this is the situation so far.
• 65 people are confirmed dead and more deaths are expected as rescuers comb through the rubble in Christchurch's centre after a 6.3-magnitude shock hit the city during lunch hour
• Emergency crews are working through the night to reach the 100 to 200 people thought to still be trapped inside collapsed buildings
• Tourists were said to have been in the tower of Christchurch Cathedral when it collapsed, and they are feared dead.
• Power and water supplies have been cut off within most of the city, with an evacuation from the city centre being ordered
• Towns outside Christchurch closer to the centre of the earthquake are also said to be devastated MORE
About half of Christchurch remains without power following today's magnitude 6.3 quake, and lines company Orion Energy is warning it will take several days to make repairs.
Up to 80 percent of customers lost power when the quake hit just before 1pm and Orion had managed to restore it to some.
``We have found serious damage to both major cables and substations in the New Brighton and Dallington areas,'' Orion Energy chief executive Roger Sutton said.MORE
Our thoughts are with the stricken nation at this time.
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