A magnitude-6.4 earthquake shook Southland was centre hundreds of kilometres to the south of New Zealand.
The quake was centred well south of New Zealand's southern coast. Photo: GeoNet
It struck at 7pm on Tuesday and was widely felt in the region, with almost 2000 'felt' reports on the GeoNet website.
It hit at a depth of 34km, and was centred almost 400km south of the South Island.
Civil Defence said there was no threat of a tsunami from the earthquake.
People on social media described it as a "long lasting rumble" and a "wobble".
A man who lives west of Riverton near the Foveaux Strait said it was a decent short-but-sharp shake.
Neil said he was sitting in his lounge when the quake hit.
"It just went bang and it hit like there was a truck thundering into the house really.
"And then a wee pause and then there was quite a bit of shaking lasting probably 15 seconds or thereabouts, so it was a decent wobble."
Neil said nothing broke or fell off the shelf but it did move things on his wall.