Former Katikati resident Rebecca Fisher is among those woken sharply at just after midnight by this morning's 7.5 earthquake.

She lives on the fifth floor of a six-storey apartment building in the Wellington suburb of Mount Cook.

'It struck just after midnight, and the aftershocks pretty much haven't stopped since,” she says. 'So we haven't really slept.”

Despite the severity, Rebecca says there hasn't been much damage where she lives.

'We just had an ornament fall off and break, which didn't happen in the previous Christchurch quakes. So we've taken everything down that might fall.”

Like most people in the city, she's been told not to come into work, partly as a safety precaution, but also due to the CBD being a bit of a mess.

'There's masonry and glass on the ground in the CBD, and what looks to be liquefaction down at the wharf,” she says.

Like the September 2010 quake in Christchurch, the timing means a more dire disaster was averted.

'It's lucky it wasn't at 12 o'clock during the day, it would have been a lot worse.”

Tauranga MP Simon Bridges says his flight to Wellington this morning was half-empty.

'Coming from the airport into the city, the streets were very empty in comparison to normal.

'My staff are here in the Beehive because we've got to deal with some of the transport issues down in the worst affected areas of Kaikoura and Hamner and around there, but they barely got any sleep last night. It was one of the worst shakes they've ever felt.”

He says the lifts aren't working, and there's a lot of shelving in his office 'badly out of shape.”

'As Minister of Transport I have a lot of model aircraft and quite a few of those are broken and on the floor.”

Simon wants to acknowledge all the people affected and the workers in what is a very trying time in the lower North Island and much of the South.

'My heart goes out to those affected families, who have lost loved ones, and to those who are trying to get over this and literally pick up the pieces. There's going to be a lot of work that's going to need to be done.

'I encourage those who are involved to stay safe and look after each other at this time.”

Civil Defence Responds

Civil Defence reports the tsunami threat has been downgraded. There is still a marine and beach threat in place from Napier to north of Dunedin, Cook Strait coastal areas and the Chatham Islands.

For those who evacuated, please check whether or not an evacuation order is still in place for your area before heading home. For the remainder of New Zealand there is no threat.

There have been two confirmed fatalities. Injuries have been reported in Canterbury, and Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) Groups have reported evacuations in Canterbury, Marlborough, Nelson/Tasman, Wellington, Manawatu/Wanganui and the Chatham Islands.

The number of injuries and evacuees are not known at this time.

Transport has been disrupted including state highway one between Blenheim and Picton is closed. State Highway 6 between Blenheim and Nelson and State Highway 7 between Springs Junction and the Waipara are also closed.

Several bridges on the state highway network are reported as damaged and closed, while Hanmer Springs is cut off. Rail networks in the lower North Island, and between Christchurch and Picton, are closed.

All InterIslander ferries have been cancelled today.

Damage has been reported in the Canterbury, Blenheim and Wellington regions, including widespread damage and building collapses reported in Kaikoura.

Electricity outages have been reported in Wellington and Manawatu/Wanganui.

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