Aftershocks unlikely after 5.7 quake

Wellingtonians were surprised by the 5.7 quake. Photo / Supplied

Wellington City Council says it's had no reports of damage to buildings or infrastructure from last night's earthquake.

The jolt - measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale - was centred 40 kilometres west of Wellington and widely felt in the capital and in Picton.

Wellington emergency services co-ordinator Fred Mecoy said the Meridian building in downtown Wellington was damaged in the 7.19pm shake and had sprayed the street on one side with broken louvres. Glenn Hudson, station officer at Thorndon fire station, said about a dozen louvres or shutters had come loose from the second storey of the north side of the Meridian Building on Customhouse Quay.

The Wagamama restaurant below was "full of happy diners" who felt the shake but the restaurant remained open.

"The danger was that they would fall off and hit passers-by so we cordoned off the area, made the area safe," he said.

Wellington City Council spokesman Richard MacLean says so far the capital seems to have escaped unscathed, however if people return to their offices tomorrow to find damage, the Council would like to know.

Dairies reported stock dislodged from shelves in the shake and workers in central Wellington buildings dived under desks and into doorways as the shake built to a rolling climax.

Newtown resident Donald McDonald said he felt the rumbling for about 10 seconds before a larger jolt.

Cook Strait ferries are running as normal this morning with no reported damage to the ports in either Picton or Wellington.

Port Marlborough says its engineer decided last night's quake wasn't big enough to have damaged the Picton infrastructure.

Geo-hazards duty officer Dr Tony Hurst said about 1600 reports were registered with GeoNet within minutes of the shake.

"Generally, the area that felt it the most was Marlborough, across to southern Wairarapa," Hurst said.

"An event of this size can be felt quite widely, depending on what you're doing at the time. If you're sitting very quietly then you are far more likely to sense something."

Hurst said the depth of the earthquake, at 60km, meant there were not likely to be many aftershocks.

Facebook comments posted nervous reactions. Alastar Scarle wrote: "A tad unnerving when your watching tv on the couch and your xmas tree decides he's sexy and he knows it and does a wiggle wiggle." Wrote Mark Fairey: "Sharp jolt and then an extended rolling quake. Doesn't appear to be any damage at our place."