During 1989 the Seismological Observatory recorded and analysed 9892 earthquakes in the New Zealand region. Preliminary locations and magnitudes are now available for all these events. This is about five times the number usually analysed in previous years, thanks to the new digital recording equipment which is being installed throughout the country. No earthquakes reached magnitude 6 during the year, although one of magnitude 5.9 in Fiordland was close to that figure. This caused intensity MM VI throughout Fiordland, and lower
 intensities elsewhere in the southern half of the South Island. Earthquakes of magnitude 5 and greater are listed: they indicate an ongoing level of activity commensurate with New Zealand's seismic history and geographic location.