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."
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
"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."
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.
