Hawke’s Bay residents have been shaken awake by an early morning earthquake and a series of aftershocks, with further aftershocks likely. 

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. 

Fire and Emergency told RNZ it had no earthquake-related callouts and no reports of damage.