A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck near Wellington, New Zealand'scapital, on July 21, causing a 656-foot long, 33-foot wide portionof the city's port to collapse into the sea.

The minute-long shaking was felt as far away as Auckland, whichis located more than 390 miles north of the capital. According toAIR, about 35 buildings in the city sustained damage, includingthe Parliament Building.

However, due to the country's strict building codes, AIRsays it does not expect significant insured losses from theearthquake, which caused no casualties. Aon Benfield says fourpeople sustained minor injuries, but there was not enough damage towarrant an emergency declaration.

Most of Wellington's buildings are in line with modern designcodes and many of its older buildings have been retrofitted tomitigate the impact of earthquakes says AIR. The most vulnerablebuildings in the region are made with unreinforced masonry.

“Building seismic design codes in New Zealand, which rank amongthe most stringent in the world, have identified Wellington as ahigh seismic zone,” said Dr. Arash Nasseri, senior engineer ofresearch at AIR Worldwide. “The city has a relatively high seismichazard and some part of the city also runs the risk of groundfailure from earthquakes, in the form of landslides andliquefaction.”

The business district is open although smashed windows, danglingceiling panels and other debris are scattered throughout the city,as well as broken water mains and downed power lines. The damagedport has been reopened, officials say.

According to Aon Benfield, minor non-structural damage wasreported in four towns outside of Wellington.

The earthquake was the largest in a series of medium-sizedtremors that struck the Cook Strait on July 18 and July 20. AIRscientists say that the recent earthquake occurred at the boundaryof the Pacific and Australia tectonic plates, which is surroundedby several trenches and a large fault system.

Although about 200,000 earthquakes are located in New Zealandeach year, says EQECAT, this was the strongest to be felt in thecity of Wellington in many years. New Zealand's Geological andNuclear Sciences (GNS)

New Zealand's Geological and Nuclear Sciences (GNS) serviceestimates that there could be up to nine magnitude 5.0 or greaterevents, in the coming week, with an approximately 30% probability(a 1 in 3 chance) of a magnitude 6.0 or greater.

New Zealand's Christchurch earthquake was the second-worst naturalcatastrophe of 2011, costing $12 billion in insured losses asreported by Swiss Re; however, this event was unrelated to theseismic events of July 2013.