Weekend shudders for Hawke's Bay

A 4.1 shake in Turangi was felt as far as Napier during the weekend. Photo / File.

Just when Hawke's Bay residents thought they'd reached steadier ground, the earth had other plans.

A 4.1 magnitude quake was recorded near Turangi at 7.26pm on Saturday night but was felt as far as Napier.

A total of 1461 people reported in to GeoNet, with 863 people recording it as "weak" while a further 549 reported it as "light".

The shaking continued as another 5.3 magnitude quake was recorded 90 kilometres north-east of Te Araroa at a shallow depth of 12km.

Since then, three light earthquakes have been reported about 5km from Porangahau with magnitudes between 2.1 to 3.1 at shallow depths, the lightest being 12km.

On Friday, GNS Science said quakes in the area could be linked to a slow-slip event happening off the east coast of the North Island.

A month-long "slow slip" event off Gisborne and Mahia is now the equivalent of a magnitude 7.0 earthquake and has spread to Hawke's Bay.

GNS Science Geophysicist Laura Wallace said this slow-slip event was now as large as the biggest previous slow-slip event GNS had recorded off Gisborne in March 2010.

The slow-slip quakes are now moving at a slower rate than during its first week, when scientist measured the largest amount of eastern movement, but continue to be steady.

"So far, the plate movement that has occurred in this event is equivalent to a magnitude 7.0 earthquake," Wallace said.

She said measuring stations in southern Hawke's Bay, including Cape Kidnappers and Pawanui, had picked up on the movement and were joining in on the slow-slip event.

"This suggests that the rupture of this slow-slip event is propagating south now, too.

"Propagation of slow-slip events from offshore Gisborne into the Hawke's Bay region was also observed in 2016."