Massive earthquake shakes New Zealand

Broken glass and spilled liquor at the Soho bar in Gisborne. Photo / Tony Trafford

Thousands of people were left shaken following a massive earthquake tonight which was felt throughout the lower North Island and Upper South Island.

The quake, which measured 6.8 on the richter scale, was centred under the sea 50km south-east from Gisborne but was felt all the way down to Christchurch.

While the extent of the damage was not known last night, firefighters were flooded with calls about fallen power lines, building damage and activated alarms.

Newstalk ZB's Gisborne reporter Murray Robertson says police have announced they have no reports of any injuries so far, but the town is in a state of chaos. He says the main street of Gisborne is shut, as the roofs of several large buildings have collapsed, and one of the main roads into the city has a huge hole in it.

Mr Robertson says off duty police have been called into work and Civil Defence staff are at the scene. He says police are asking everyone not to drive and to return to their homes.

Power in Gisborne is now back on, after Gisborne was plunged in to darkness for almost 40 minutes after the quake.

Gisborne man Merv Bradley, 78, said he had been living in the area since 1944 and it was the worst he had felt yet.

"It struck at about 9pm, I just had to ride it out. There are books and ornaments all over the place and there will be a massive cleanup in the morning."

Auckland man Norman Mercer was on the phone to a friend in Gisborne when the woman, who is in her 70s, started screaming "help me".

Mr Mercer said he heard crashing in the background before the line went dead. He tried to ring her back but was unable to make contact, leaving him concerned for his friend's wellbeing.

A Whakatane man, who only wanted to be known as Aaron, was watching television when the quake struck.

"It was a good rolling motion. It went for more than ten seconds. I thought 'oh no this could go for a while and I was getting my butt under a doorway"'.

GeoNet duty seismologist Warwick Smith said thousands of people had logged on to the GeoNet website from all over the country to record the fact they had felt the quake.

Mr Smith said there was minor damaged reported in Gisborne, such as broken glass and ornaments, but there were no initial reports of any injury.

He said an earthquake of a 6.8 magnitude was rare.