Two earthquakes have been recorded 15 kilometres north-east of Turangi.
GeoNet reported the first magnitude 5.2 earthquake just after 7pm on Wednesday. The second magnitude 4.5 earthquake hit two minutes later under Lake Taupo.
The moderate earthquakes were felt across the North Island, including in Cambridge, Dannevirke, Fielding, Hamilton, Hastings, Murupara and Napier.
Both had a shallow depth of five kilometres with light-to-moderate shaking.
A magnitude 2.3 earthquake has also been reported 15 kilometres south-west of Taupo at 7:22pm, with a depth of 16 kilometres.
A number of people have reported feeling a "very scary" strong shake in Taupo.
"Felt [it] in Taupo, was dishing up dinner and the bench swayed towards me, definitely a good shake," one person posted on Facebook.
"Had an item fall of our wall unit. Worst we've felt in a long while," said another.
Other Taupo residents have described their houses shaking, calling it "the strongest in a long time".
GeoNet has since reported a number of small aftershocks causing weak shaking near Turangi, and says more are possible.
Over 4000 felt reports have been recorded around the North Island.
GeoNet says the earthquakes are likely to be related to a swarm initially reported in July.
Newshub.
