'Biggest in a while': Magnitude 6.2 earthquake shakes Hawke's Bay locals

Firefighters attempt to rescue a person trapped in a hospital elevator during the 6.2 magnitude earthquake. Photo / Supplied.

A 6.2 magnitude quake has struck the North Island, leaving Hawke's Bay locals shaken.

But for one, it was a case of unfortunate timing, after they found themselves trapped in a hospital elevator.

Hastings Fire Station officer Ryan McCarty said they used their specialist equipment to rescue the person from Hawke's Bay Hospital in what was a "standard procedure".

Firefighters attempt to rescue a person trapped in a hospital elevator during the 6.2 magnitude earthquake. Photo / Supplied.

He was unsure how long the person was trapped in the lift but said there had been no other earthquake related incidents.

Hawke's Bay emergency management group controller Ian McDonald, who experienced the quake from upstairs in Hastings' Heretaunga House said about 3.30pm there had been no reports of damage.

He received near-immediate notification of details such as location, strengths and depth and with other material available the system was able to assess other risks, such as tsunami.

"It was quite short, less than a minute," he said, adding there were no immediate other concerns.

But he added: "That was a bit of a shake. We haven't had one like that for a while."

"It is a timely reminder that we are in a zone prone to earthquakes from time," he said. "So everybody does need to be prepared."

His sentiments were echoed by many around the region.

Five-year-old Arahi Alexander was having afternoon tea with her dad, Tony at their Napier property when she encountered her first earthquake.

"The initial shaking started and she looked up with a startled expression. I asked her what was happening and she replied "it's an earthquake." So I said, "what do we do?" She then dived under the table," Tony said.

He said she was "more startled than scared". " She has two ex-emergency responders as parents, so she's known from a young age what to do," Alexander said.

Thirsty Liquor Hastings store manager Manpreet Signh said they had one customer at the time. "He was in the chiller and he just ran out of the store".

New World Hastings had 10 items fall off the shelves during the quake.

Co-owner Katie Yates said 3pm was the store's busiest time of the day, with parents and school children coming in.

Vivienne Guthrie said on Facebook she felt a "sharp jolt" in Napier which lasted about 20 seconds.

A woman at Ashcott Homestead in Central Hawke's Bay said it felt like "rolling waves in her 160 year-old Homestead".

In the two-hours after the quake, a "weak" 3.7 magnitude jolt was felt within 5km north of Porangahau and a 2.2km magnitude, 10 km north-west of Porangahau.

Victoria University's Professor John Townend suspected the earthquake was produced by bending within the Pacific Plate, which is constantly sliding and grinding against the Australian plate.

As the Pacific plate effectively dived beneath the North Island, the further west in the island, the deeper the plate was.

But quakes that struck at the depth today's did still sent their seismic waves propagating to shallower parts of the great slab – which meant the quake would have been felt more strongly in Hawke's Bay and Wellington, Townend said.