Shaky night for central New Zealand after 'severe' 5.5 jolt

The Seddon 5.5 quake. Photo / via Geonet

A severe 5.5 earthquake that shook central New Zealand yesterday afternoon has been followed by a flurry of tremors overnight including two sizeable jolts.

Nerves were shattered afresh when the shallow quake struck at 4.15pm east of Seddon.

It was felt widely across the country but particularly strongly in Wellington and the top of the South Island with many describing it similar to the devastating 7.8 quake that struck the region three weeks ago.

Since then the quake-battered Kaikoura region has been rocked by scores of minor quakes in the past 12 hours including two moderate quakes.

One measuring magnitude 3.9 struck 20km southeast of Seddon at 11.07pm and was felt widely across the North Island and the West Coast. It was followed five hours later by a moderate sized 4.4 quake at 4.18am.

7 am update: 129 eq in last 12 hour, 235 eq in last 24 hrs (4 over M4) and 7656 eq since the M7.8 Kaikoura Earthquake. #eqnz #Kaikoura pic.twitter.com/UmD2NSSsbC

— GeoNet (@geonet) December 4, 2016

GeoNet said there had been 129 aftershocks since 7pm with four higher than magnitude 4.

To date there have been 7656 tremors since the large 7.8 earthquake struck on November 14.

Nearly 7000 people right across New Zealand reported feeling yesterday afternoon's severe strength quake.

Geonet reported the majority of the fierce tremor's impact was throughout the top of the South Island and western regions of the North Island.

It appears there was no damage though nerves were left a little more frayed.

Posted Julie Hughes on Facebook: "... just when I was starting to gain a little confidence that it was all over, my heart was pumping."

Those who couldn't escape it said it started in a remarkably similar fashion to the devastating Kaikoura quake.

Wellington resident Catherine Gully said she was resting in bed when the earth started to shake.

"The quake was all too reminiscent of the beginning of the recent 7.8 quake," she said.

Blenheim resident Raul Szalma who was just 50 km from the quake epicentre said he was beginning to brace for a larger quake.

"I was sitting in the car near a park and just started shaking. Thank God it lasted for few secs only and wasn't bigger..."