'Severe' earthquake shakes top of South Island, Wellington

The Seddon 5.5 quake. Photo / via Geonet

A 5.5-magnitude earthquake has struck the upper South Island.

Residents in Wellington down to Christchurch have reported feeling the quake.

Geonet reported the quake at 4.15pm today, initially as "strong" but it has been updated to "severe".

It was 10km southeast of Seddon in Marlborough, and had a 12km depth.

M5.5 quake causing strong shaking near Seddon https://t.co/DmRxAFC3sX

— GeoNet (@geonet) December 4, 2016

It was followed by several smaller quakes. A 3.0-magnitude struck 25km south of Hastings at the same. It had a 27km depth.

The owner of SuperValue in Seddon Kevin Kamat said the shaking lasted for about five seconds.

"It was quite strong. We had about 12 customers in the store and everyone made a beeline for the door."

I felt an #earthquake around 4:15 this avo while having a nap. Not sure which of the 2 quakes at that time I felt. #eqnz

— Ivan Rainforth-Gott (@FijiNZ77) December 4, 2016

Kamat said there was no damage to the supermarket.

Pete Kiley owner of the Seddon camp ground, which has been closed for some years now, said it was the biggest shake they have had in Seddon since last month's 7.8 magnitude quake.

"It really shook the house up.

Geez - that wasn't so nice. A 5.5 near Seddon and a 4.8 near Hastings. Wellington right in the middle and the house was...

Posted by Lindsay Eaton on Saturday, 3 December 2016

We got this. The kid just protected his precious gaming enabler for the next one. #eqnz #wellington pic.twitter.com/pCciw1wEeN

— Jodi Ihaka (@JodiIhaka) December 4, 2016

Quite glad we the tethered the Chrissy tree up in case of shakes. #WellieChristmas #eqnz pic.twitter.com/EEh5vCjTJK

— FlamingAim (@FlamingAim) December 4, 2016

"A few things fell like cups. But most of our stuff has been in the floor since the last earthquake."

Kiley said friends from Blenheim called this afternoon and said they also felt the earthquake.

Sue Maybury in Wellington tweeted: "The whole house shook."

So we felt two #eqnz Hastings and Seddon that's why I was a bit edgy.. seemed to keep going

— Heather two ticks Blue 💙💙 (@Pukeko65) December 4, 2016

Who felt that one? Didn't need that shake on a Sunday arvo! #eqnz https://t.co/QtnZtZRtPi

— Wellington City Council (@WgtnCC) December 4, 2016

Wellington City Council's principal media adviser, Richard MacLean said there have not been any reports of damage yet.

The Council has checked on the safety of contractors demolishing the quake-damaged building at 61 Molesworth St.

Zahra Magill-Shaikh said she felt the quake in Stokes Valley.

"It was very scary.. it was labeled as 'strong' which freaked me out by itself but then it got upgraded to 'severe' which made me very worried i am just hoping there are no more Quakes today."

The two shakes follow the 7.8 magnitude quake which happened just after midnight on November 14. It occured 60km southwest of Kaikoura at a depth of 15km.

It caused widespread damage to buildings in Kaikoura and Wellington.

There have since been thousands of aftershocks.