Aftershocks continue to rock Christchurch following early morning earthquake

People throw petals into the Avon River following the 10th anniversary memorial service for the 2011 Christchurch Earthquake. Photo / George Heard

Aftershocks are continuing in Christchurch following the 3.7 magnitude earthquake on Saturday morning that was felt by 2000 people.

In a tweet, Geonet said a magnitude 2.9 earthquake occurred 5km south-east of Seddon at about 4.45pm, and may have been felt in Blenheim and surrounding localities.

M2.9 quake causing light shaking near Seddon https://t.co/cSXUvB9TIA

— GeoNet (@geonet) May 8, 2021

The morning's quake struck 10km east of the city at a depth of 6km just after 5am, according to Geonet.

Most of the 2191 people who said they felt the shakes described them as "light".

"Good morning Christchurch - looks like a lot of you felt that quake! More than 2000 felt reports for this one, a M3.7 earthquake with light shaking," GeoNet tweeted this morning.

"It's a reminder that 10 years on, the Canterbury aftershock sequence is still ongoing."

However its forcast said it was an unlikely chance (38 per cent) of one or more earthquakes of magnitude 5 to 5.9 hitting the Christchurch aftershock zone between September 2020 and September 2021.

The probability is "extremely unlikely" (less than 1 per cent) that there will be an earthquake of magnitude 7 or greater.

"As time passes the chance of further earthquakes generally becomes lower," GeoNet said.

"With every month that passes without a major aftershock, probabilities will continue falling. However, if another large aftershock occurs it can re-energise the system and spark a resurgence of earthquake activity for a month or so."