Hundreds of commuters have been left stranded in Wellington and homes in Marlborough have been seriously damaged after a large quake hit the area this afternoon.
After its initial report, GNS reported on its website that the quake that struck at 2.31pm was a 6.6 magnitude, and only 8km deep, 10km southeast of Seddon, near the coast in Marlborough.
Are you in Wellington? Send us your pictures and share your experienceGNS seismologist Anna Kaiser said there had been about 30 aftershocks registered with GNS since the magnitude 6.6 magnitude shake.
Of those, five had been greater than magnitude 5.
The strongest ground shaking, recorded near Seddon, was .75 times the acceleration due to gravity.
To put that into perspective, the strongest shaking felt during February's earthquakes in Christchurch was 2.25 times the acceleration due to gravity.
"That's strong shaking so people may have had trouble standing and furniture might move around or things could fall off shelves,'' Ms Kaiser said.
GNS seismologist Bill Fry said it was not immediately clear what the exact magnitude of the shake was as data continued to come in, but it was likely to be "in the upper 6s''.
He said it was a "very strong, shallow shake'' which was widely felt.
The strongest shaking was recorded in Wellington.
"Anecdotally, I was sitting in my office chair in the same spot and I thought this had longer duration than the shakes of two weeks ago.
"Scientifically, if it gets above the magnitude of the largest one two weeks ago then this becomes the main shocks and those become foreshocks.''
By that, he meant that this could be "the main event'' and the previous shakes could have been leading up to this.
NZTA said traffic out of Wellington was increasingly heavy, with both SH1 and SH2 congested. Drivers were urged to remain patient and drive safely.
Civil Defence Minister Nikki Kaye said the National Crisis Management Centre in the Beehive had been activated for support of the Wellington and Marlborough emergency management centres.
"We've had no reports of major structural damage but the advice I've had is Wellington Council along with a number of other engineers will be doing building assessments tonight and over the weekend. We've offered any support to that.''
Ms Kaye said she had personally seen the traffic chaos in Wellington following the quake.
"I was at Wellington Airport and my reaction was to come back to Parliament. I was stuck in traffic so I actually went on foot.. I jogged slightly back to Parliament.''
DAMAGE REPORTS
A house has almost totally collapsed near Ward in Marlborough, due to the quake. There were no injuries.
There was also reports of a a rockfall on State Highway 1, just north of Ward.
Police said large boulders had come down on parts of SH1 and the road was currently closed.
KiwiRail had closed its lines from Kaikoura to Picton as well as those running into Wellington from Masterton and from Otaki on the North Island main trunk line.
Spokeswoman Kimberley Brady said two freight trains were stranded north of Kaikoura but she was uncertain about other freight disruption.
Ms Brady said 11 commuter trains were stuck between platforms for up to an hour after this afternoon's earthquake, according to emergency procedures, but had since been moved to the nearest stations to disembark stranded passengers.
However, hundreds of commuters were left stranded in Wellington by the cancelled train services.
Police stopped traffic outside the Wellington train station to get drivers with empty seats in their vehicles to pick up stranded passengers.
Sergeant Grant Verner said drivers started the initiative of coming to the station to offer rides.
Police who were at the station saw the gesture and stepped in to organise the situation.
"It's just ad-hoc,'' he said.
People had been "pretty good'' about being stopped by police and offering rides, he said.
"We just felt we needed to help for safety reasons.''
One passenger waiting for a lift, John Priest, said he needed to get to Paraparaumu.
"I think it's really nice that people are stopping to offer rides,'' he said.
Another commuter Scott Irvine said it was great people were pitching in to work together.
Buses started to arrive at the station shortly before 5pm and commuters were clearing from the station.
Meanwhile, the mass exodus from the city has caused traffic chaos in the suburbs as drivers try to avoid the motorway and get home and go via back streets.
Traffic around Wilton and Northland had come to a standstill, one driver, Nick Payton said.
Travellers are resigning themselves to a long wait.
Mark and Judy Edwards from Waikanae said they had no idea how long they would be waiting for a bus to get them home.
"Time to get a beer I guess,'' Mr Edwards said.
Sergeant Graham Gubb said people had been understanding of the situation, but they were not very happy.
"There's a lot of nervous people, a lot of upset people.''
NZTA said pedestrians stranded in the city were walking along the motorway between Wellington and Petone, and motorists on SH2 were warned to be take extra care.
The NZ Transport Agency State Highway Manager Wellington Rod James said the agency was undertaking structural checks of all its highways and assets including bridges and tunnels this afternoon.
"The roads are busy as people are choosing to leave the city centre and the Hutt and head home so please be patient with your fellow road users and allow extra time for travel,'' he said.
Damage at this stage appears to be restricted to the Manners Mall, Cuba St and Featherstone St areas of the CBD where there is broken glass on the roads.
"Please avoid unnecessary travel into the city centre and if you do have to travel this evening please take extreme care, as there may be debris on local roads. Also be careful of pedestrians as a lot of people are walking home from the city,'' he said.
Irene Walker, operations specialist in the Telecom building has been unable to get home to Waikanae.
"I'm in the Telecom building on Willis St. It was really swaying. We stayed for a while but the nerves get the better of you.''
"I'm hoping my husband will come and pick me up. I just want to get home.''
"But I feel safe here in the greenery (outside the train station) rather than being stuck in a building.''
Wellington police say there are no reports of significant damage so far following this afternoon's 6.2 magnitude earthquake.
Although there have been a number of incidents involving broken glass in the city, there are no reports of any casualties so far.
A number of people have been freed from lifts in the CBD which stopped when the quake struck.
Inspector Pete Cowan of Wellington District police is urging people to be patient.
"With trains temporarily suspended and many people leaving the city early police are asking people to be patient as they head home this afternoon.
"There is significant traffic on city centre roads and many people walking home and we ask people to take extra care.
"We also ask people to check on any vulnerable neighbours and alert emergency services if they need assistance.''
Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown said her advice for commuters and residents was to be patient this afternoon.
"Traffic is very heavy already. If you can, wait before heading home.
"People should also know that trains are not running and won't be again until tracks are checked. Buses are running. The airport is open. People should expect general delays.''
Mayor Wade-Brown said there had been initial reports of some superficial damage to buildings in the CBD but there have been no reports of any major damage so far, nor injuries.
Police are working with the Fire Service and city council staff as assessments take place around the city.
Phone connections into the capital are disrupted, but a spokeswoman was hoping for text updates within the next hour on any damage to rail infrastructure such as tunnels, bridges, overhead power lines and - in the case of the inter-island ferries - wharves at Picton and Wellington.
NZ Bus later said Wellington buses were running again.
About 1000 people are without power in the Seddon area, power lines company Marlborough Lines said.
A further 3000 who lost power immediately after the quake have now been restored, said chief financial officer Kelvin Deaker.
"We had some major outages initially. Upwards of six of our main sub stations tripped out as they do for safety reasons in a shake of that magnitude,'' he said.
The main urban substations had now been restored, and most of those without power were in areas from Seddon South to Waipapa Point.
In some cases low-voltage lines had also come down, and Mr Deaker said the public were urged to treat all lines as live, and not to touch them.
"Gangs are out now trying to restore power and making sure lines are safe,'' he said.
"We've got all of our people out getting as many people on as quickly as we can.''
A Wellington Electricity spokesman said 2500 customers in and around Wellington were initially without power but this had been reduced to 600.
The outages were in Wrights Hill, Makara and Wainuiomata.
Ambulance central communications said they had yet to receive any calls related to the earthquake.
Wellington Airport's runway has been inspected and is back open, although travelers are advised to check with their airline or airport website for flight status.
No tsunami threat has been issued.
A fire communications spokesman said so far there had been no reports of damage in Wellington, just alarm activations around the city. There is also one person stuck in a lift.
Wellington police shift inspector Bruce Mackay said there was likely to be some congestion in the city centre as workers looked to head home, and those who have been evacuated from buildings tried to leave, while trains were still suspended.
"A lot of people are going to be leaving town but the trains aren't working so that's going to be causing some problems.''
He said the big quake and several aftershocks had been felt at the police communications centre. "It bounced at first and then did a big sideways shake. We're sitting here feeling a bit car sick.''
At Wellington Hospital, a dishwasher caught fire in a staff kitchen during the earthquake.
But Capital & Coast District Health Board communications spokeswoman Kim Whitaker said the "minor'' fire was put out immediately by a staff member.
"There was no danger to staff or patients.''
Minor cracks had been identified in some buildings but no major damage had been found. The hospital had not lost power and was operating normally.
"There's no cancellation or closing of any services.''
The state-of-the-art hospital was only built a few years ago and had base isolators installed beneath which allowed it to move in an earthquake.
"So it does move but it's meant to. Obviously [patients] can feel it ... it was a pretty big shake.
"I was on level 13 and it was scary. But it's okay, we're okay.''
Malborough District Council communications co-ordinator Julianna Dilrew said Telecom land lines and cell phone networks were initially disrupted, but the council was starting to receive calls again.
"It certainly felt as big as the one a few weeks ago.''
"We're all a bit shaken.''
She said council staff were "jumping into action'' and heading out to Seddon.
Fire chief in Seddon, Marlborough, Kevin Hebberd said fallen power lines had caused a grassfire, and the town's fuel supply had been ripped out of the ground.
"At the moment we've dealt with a fire, dealt with power lines down and we've shut off the fuel because the tank's been torn out of the ground.''
The Fire Service was doing a street-by-street check on everyone it could.
The first quake lasted for two or three minutes, and aftershocks were still rattling the station every few minutes.
"It's the strongest one we've had and it's still continuing.''
Nelson City Council spokeswoman Ali Hamblin said there were no reports of damage in the Nelson/Tasman region so far from Civil Defence.
"It wasn't massive - we got under our desks but it wasn't like the world was going to end.''
The Ministry of Business Innovation and Enterprise said its buildings would be closed.
Telecom advises that no significant damage appears to have been sustained to its networks in the Lower North Island or Upper South Island as a result of this afternoon's Cook Strait earthquakes.
"For a period of time after the major earthquake hit just after 2.30pm, our networks experienced severe congestion as a result of many people trying to make calls to loved ones,'' said communications manager Holly Wilkinson.
"While this initial congestion is abating we continue to encourage customers to use text messaging rather than making phone calls unless absolutely necessary, to ensure lines are freed up for emergency calls.''
Helicopters are checking the roofs of all Wellington central business district buildings.
Westfield Queensgate shopping mall in Lower Hutt has been evacuated and structural checks are being carried out.
111 services are still operating, although traffic that normally is routed through the Wellington call centre has been diverted to Christchurch under Telecom's business continuity procedures.
Telecom has also decided to close all its key buildings in the Wellington area as a precaution pending engineering checks likely to occur over the weekend. Staff are being allowed to return home to their families and loved ones.
Lectures and meetings were cancelled yesterday and the remainder of the weekend at Victoria University of Wellington, with Old Government Buildings, Rutherford House and Te Aro buildings evacuated as a precaution.
Karori and Kelburn campuses remained open, however students were advised to leave campus and go home if safe to do so. Welfare centres were set-up for those unable to do so.
Massey University's Wellington campus was closed as a precautionary measure, with no reports of any damage or injury.
The University of Otago's Wellington campus will remained closed on Monday while engineers inspect buildings for damage.
