A ‘strong’ magnitude 4.4 earthquake has hit the South Island 100km north of Christchurch. 

The earthquake occurred at 9.30am today and was centred 5km south of Culverden and 12km deep, GeoNet said.   

More than 550 people, mostly in Christchurch, told the GeoNet site they felt the quake. 

It comes about two months after a magnitude-6.2km quake hit Geraldine south of Christchurch in what was the strongest earthquake to hit New Zealand this year. 

More than 14,000 people posted reports on GeoNet saying they felt that September 20 quake . 

It was described as a long, rumbling quake and didn’t cause any violent jolts. 

It was the first decent shake to be felt in Canterbury — a region devastated by the 2010-11 earthquake sequence — for some time. 

The magnitude-6.3 quake of February 22, 2011, killed 185 people and caused widespread damage to Christchurch’s CBD and many suburbs.