WELLINGTON: A moderate 5.6-magnitude earthquake rattled residents on the North Island of New Zealand early on Monday, the US Geological Survey said.
The quake struck just off the coast before 8am local time (2000 GMT), at a depth of about 52 kilometers (32 miles) and about 55 kilometers west of Palmerston North, the US Geological Survey said.
New Zealand's official GeoNet seismic monitoring service put the strength at 5.8.
St John Ambulance and New Zealand Police both said there were no initial reports of injuries or damage. There was no tsunami warning.
"Felt as a long, strong shake in Wellington. That was not very much fun," one Twitter user wrote.
Another person reported "quite the shake in Wairarapa," east of Palmerston North.
"I hope everyone else is OK," he said on Twitter.
New Zealand lies in the collision zone between the Indo-Australian and Pacific tectonic plates, part of the Pacific Basin Ring of Fire. It experiences more than 15,000 earthquakes a year, although only 100-150 are strong enough to be felt.
A shallow 6.3 quake in the South Island city of Christchurch killed 185 people in 2011, while a 7.8 shake slightly further north in 2016 was the second strongest ever recorded in the country. - AFP