More than 7,000 people have reported feeling the quake which struck beneath the Cook Strait, just 35km south west of Wellington at 3.30pm (2.30am GMT) on Thursday.
No reports of casualties or damages have emerged so far.
It comes just weeks after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake killed two people and caused widespread destruction near Christchurch in November.
Michael Duncan, from Wanganui, a city north west of Wellington said: “The rubble started and I thought it was just a bus going by but then I heard creaks in the house and thought, ‘oh my goodness, this is another quake’.
“It went for some time.”
At least two aftershocks are believed have occured at 3. and 4.7 magnitudes, according to GeoNet.
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