Central North Island residents have been woken by a big late-night earthquake - and dozens of aftershocks have been reported since.

A 5.6 magnitude quake struck about 20km southwest of Taupō shortly before midnight, at a depth of 5km.

More than 5000 people have reported feeling the quake on Geonet.

Oruanui resident Beth, in her 70s, told Newstalk ZB: “Never felt anything like it before. Things fell down and next thing I could hear water.

“It shook the hot boiler so violently it’s ruptured all the pipes at the top. Water was spraying all over the floor down and through the carpet.

“First thing I did was dive into the room and get my grandson - he looked quite frightened. And then I ran outside in the dark to turn the water off.”

Taupō resident Karen felt the quake.

She, her family and their newborn baby got “shaken up pretty badly”.

”We’ve been through the big quake in Whakatāne years ago and this was not nice. It was a complete reminder of what we went through back then.”

Products at the Asian Sari-sari fly off the shelves as a 5.6 magnitude earthquake strikes Taupō. Video / JhuVal Gabayan

Dozens of aftershocks reported since

By 5.23am, there had been at least 29 aftershocks since the big quake.

The biggest aftershock was reported at 12.40am as a 4.5 magnitude shake at a depth of 5km about 20km southwest of Taupō.

Those who felt the quake have also taken to social media to share their experiences.

On the GeoNet Facebook page, Taupō local Brittany Rose said: “Was that a good one. Still rumbling here for [the] past hour and hasn’t stopped.”

Katie Howie said over at her house, drawers “flew open” when the quake struck.

That was “a biggie”, she wrote.

Les Pepper posted: “That was a bloody good shake. Our two-storey house in Taupō was rocking. Hard to get back to sleep properly with all the aftershocks. Should like folks are shaken but okay”.

- more to come -