More than 5000 people have reported feeling the magnitude 5.2 quake, which is categorised as strong by Geonet and hit around 3.18am.
Newstalk ZB listener Lynn was woken by the quake in central Hawke’s Bay.
"It was quite large and quite shaky. It was quite a good shake, quite a good shake.
"I’ve lived in Hawke’s Bay all my life so I know all about earthquakes, especially living in Napier, we had bad big ones.
"That is what I would describe as a very shaky one. Everything in the house rattled."
The quake’s epicentre was 20km west of Pōrangahau and 10km deep, according to the latest update to Geonet’s website. An aftershock registering M4.1 hit at 3.30am.
"There have been 5 aftershocks so far, there will likely be more," Geonet posted to X at 3.42am.
The organisation added that in an earthquake people should "drop, cover and hold".
"When in bed, cover your head. You are less likely to be injured if you stay in bed."
The most recent quake in the area recorded by the organisation was at 3:42am with a magnitude of 2.9. Around 200 people reporting they felt that tremor.
‘Had me up in a split second’
Commenters on the Geonet Facebook page reported feeling the "good shake" from as far afield as Taranaki and Whanganui while many reported the quake had been very noisy.
"[Definitely] lots of aftershocks! Not ideal when you have a terrified kid beside you in bed!!" one person said.
Others said their dogs and cats had been frightened by the quake and they had been unable to get back to sleep.
"I couldn’t [have] gotten out of bed even if I wanted too as soon as we heard it coming the dog planted himself on me and started growling... neither of us were impressed," one commenter said, adding that they were still traumatized by the Canterbury quakes.
"I don’t usually head for the door frame but that one had me up in a split second!" another wrote.
A person at the epicentre described the quake as a "long strong jolt" followed by rocking of the house, while a person in Ashurst said they could hear the rumble getting closer ahead of it hitting.
"That seemed to be a long shake small to start then got stronger...made the wind chime, chime," the person said.
Fire and Emergency told RNZ it had no earthquake-related callouts and no reports of damage.
