‘Bugger it’ - NZ's Ardern curses quakes and COVID

"Bugger it. Pretty much what everyone else thought at that time. But you know, this is as the minister has said, these are, we are the Shaky Isles," Ardern said in response to a question from a journalist about dealing with a pandemic and an earthquake at

the same time.

Earlier on Friday, workers, students and residents in areas like Northland and Bay of Plenty, on the northern coast near Auckland, fled beachside towns for higher ground after the three quakes, striking in an eight-hour period, triggered blaring tsunami sirens

and warnings to evacuate via text messages.

Finally at around 3.45 p.m. (0245 GMT) the country's NEMA issued a cancellation of the tsunami warnings across the country, and evacuees left the higher grounds.