Hundreds of people have reported feeling the quake on the East Coast and at the top of the South Island.
The
Fire Service and St John ambulance say they have not yet received reports of damage or injury.
Bay of Plenty residents have also felt the quake. Whakatane District Council said on Facebook its staff had felt it.
Geonet have classified the quake as strong, upgrading it from moderate.
Zania, a staffer at Matawai's Hard Drive Cafe said: "I was the only one in the shop that felt it. It wasn't amazingly horrific. There were three of us in the shop and I was standing in the kitchen and I was like 'Oh cool, earthquake.' But no one else felt it. There's no one around the shopping area at the moment."
Lilly, who works at Matawai Camp said it was "a goodie".
"We own the campground in Matawai, all of the guys staying here at the moment are working on the bridge at the moment so there was no one around at the time. We've felt a couple of little ones before but we've only been here for six months, so this is the biggest one we've felt.
"I didn't know we were anywhere near a fault line, but apparently it was centered right near us."
A Gisborne District Council spokeswoman said no issues had been reported to its Civil Defence team.
"Our team are keeping in touch with emergency services and have contacted volunteers in rural communities. We do know there is no tsunami threat."
Any updates would be posted on the Tairawhiti CDEM Facebook page.
