A 5.9- magnitude earthquake hit New Zealand in the early hours of Sunday, according to the country’s seismic monitoring service GeoNet.
The epicentre of the quake, which occurred at 4:34 pm (UTC), was located at a depth of 115 kilometres, about 50 kilometres northwest of Te Kaha, GeoNet added.
There were no reports of injuries or damage to property as a result of the quake.
More than 5000 people felt the 115km-deep quake, from those in Auckland to Wellington.
Geo net took to Twitter, saying “Deeper and offshore quakes like this “often take a bit longer to analyse”.
In September this year, a 5.8-magnitude earthquake struck a few hundred kilometres off the southern coast of New Zealand.
It was initially classified as a strong quake of 6.1 magnitudes but has since been classified as moderate.
New Zealand lies in the ”Ring of Fire”, an area in the basin of the Pacific Ocean, which is vulnerable to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions