Swarm of earthquakes rattle Bay of Plenty

More than 450 people felt a 'moderate' earthquake near Whakatane when it hit at 9pm yesterday. It was followed hours later with another shake in the Bay of Plenty. Photo/file

More earthquakes have been felt in the Bay of Plenty.

Geonet recorded four moderate quakes throughout the past 24 hours about 30km northwest of Whakatane.

The last hit at 1.41am with a magnitude of 3.6 and was felt in Tauranga.

At 9.06pm yesterday a 4.2 magnitude quake struck at 10km deep.

Only eight people reported feeling the early morning quake, but 454 said they felt last night's tremor.

The quakes follow a 4.1 shake in the same spot at 1.35pm and another at 11.39am.

Geonet recorded at least 86 "felt" reports from people describing yesterday afternoon's quake between "strong" and "light".

At least 49 people felt yesterday morning's quake.

One resident said the earthquake it was minor, but the one in the afternoon was more significant.

"I was lying on my bed reading and there was one big jolt. Everything was swinging for a few minutes after.

"There's been a few earthquakes recently. I just hope it's not building up to another big earthquake like the one in 2004."

Earlier today a "weak" 2.1 earthquake hit 10 km northwest of Turangi