Earthquake shakes the North Island

Thousands of people have reported feeling an earthquake centered on Whanganui. Photo / Geonet

An earthquake in Whanganui has been felt by thousands of people.

Geonet reported a 4.7 magnitude earthquake 5km northwest of Whanganui at 8.09pm. It was 91km deep and more than 5200 people had reported feeling it within the first 10 minutes.

Quite a shake in the North Island just now. Will get more info out soon. Preliminary details - https://t.co/QIqFZoTrnC #eqnz pic.twitter.com/IE4n6Gp7WK

— GeoNet (@geonet) January 23, 2019

Most of the reports were along the west coast of the North Island from Taranaki down to Wellington with a number of people in Nelson also saying they felt the shake.

A Twitter user in Wellington questioned whether it was an earthquake or wind saying her apartment "got the major shakes just now".

Guys was that earthquake or wind? My apartment got the major shakes just now eek #eqnz #wellington

— Chamfy (@chamfy) January 23, 2019

Another person on social media posted she felt the earthquake while onstage with Nigella Lawson in Wellington.

My first earthquake while onstage with @Nigella_Lawson in Wellington. Thankfully a small one

— nicky pellegrino (@nickypellegrino) January 23, 2019

we also had two pretty big earthquakes in immediate succession 35 minutes in and she just kept talking and didn't even notice it on the stage until she saw that everyone was in DJJAKSJSKSF WE HAD AN EARTHQUAKE MODE in the audience omg 😂😂😂

— ✨ megan @ rhapsodizing ✨ (@museicalitea) January 23, 2019

Geonet orginially also reported a magnitude 6 earthquake at 8.08pm, 10km south-west of Ruatoria. However, that report has since been removed from their website.

The organisation explained that the Whanganui quake came in at the same time as a magnitude 5 earthquake offshore which "confused our system into thinking a quake happened at Ruatoria".

UPDATE: M4.7 quake 5 km north of Whanganui. Depth 96 km. This quake came in at the same time as a M5.0 from offshore which confused our system into thinking a quake happened at Ruatoria. We've had nearly 6,000 felt reports for this quake. Details here: https://t.co/yVxvjw7N1i

— GeoNet (@geonet) January 23, 2019