Eketāhuna is a small rural settlement, in the south of the Tararua District and the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand's North Island.[4] The New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage gives a translation of "land on the sandbank" for Eketāhuna.[5] When pronounced in the typical Pākehā way, the name sounds like the Afrikaans sentence "I have a chicken" (Afrikaans: Ek het 'n hoender), making it amusing to immigrant Afrikaans-speaking South Africans in New Zealand.[7] The Pukaha / Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre is located to the south of the town.Measuring 6.2 on the Richter magnitude scale, the quake caused moderate damage all over the southern North Island.[10] In July 2020, the name of the town was officially gazetted as Eketāhuna by the New Zealand Geographic Board.