People across the country have reported feeling a 5.7 magnitude earthquake that was recorded 10km west of St Arnaud, a village in the north of the South Island.
GeoNet reported the quake took place at 10:13pm on Thursday evening at a depth of 62km.
Many people are reporting feeling the quake on Twitter, with several pointing out that tomorrow marks 10 years to the day since the 2010 Canterbury earthquake.
"Quiiiiiite creaky the old Prem House during those good shakes, it's sure set off the birds nesting in our ceiling... hope everyone else is OK," tweeted Clarke Gayford, the fiancé of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
At the time of publishing, the GeoNet website has 24 reports from people claiming to have felt "extreme" shaking, with another 145 reports of "strong" shaking.
There were more than 25,000 reports in total of people feeling the quake within 30 minutes, ranging from as far south as Stewart Island to as far north as Omapere on the Hokianga Harbour.
GeoNet initially tweeted that the quake's magnitude was 4.4 before reporting it as 5.7 on its website. The tweet's description of "light shaking" was refuted by others on social media.
"Light shaking?? Wow, felt pretty strong here in Nelson," tweeted LaVerne Clark.
