Strong 4.8-magnitude quake rocks top of South Island and lower North Island

The quake struck 15km east of Seddon. Image / Geonet

A 4.8 magnitude earthquake rocked the top of the South Island this morning.

It struck 15 kilometres east of Seddon with a depth of 12km - at around 1.18am.

Geonet reports the shaking was strongly felt in Nelson, Blenheim and Wellington - all the way up to Palmerston North.

Bit of a shaky start to Sunday for Central NZ this morning. The shallow M4.8 quake was reported felt by 1890 people. #eqnz pic.twitter.com/WUQu55c5Qe

— GeoNet (@geonet) March 28, 2020

Nearly two thousand people checked in to say they felt the quake.

#eqnz What's next, pestilence?

— Akire Te (@AkireTe) March 28, 2020

Last night quake didn't wake me up. But the last thing we'd want during a #pandemic is a #megathrust or major fault such as Alpine fault rupturing #eqnz cc to @geonet

— Mimi's Mum (@mimi_s_mum) March 28, 2020