Western Bay of Plenty residents are among the thousands of people who took cover in Wellington as a 6.5 magnitude earthquake struck central New Zealand last night.

The 6.5 quake struck 30km east of Seddon at 5.09pm on Sunday sending tremours through the country felt as far north as Hamilton.

Katikati's Rebecca Fisher took cover as the 6.5 magnitude quake struck Wellington last night.

It follows a flurry of seismic activity in the Cook Straight in recent days beginning with a 5.7 magnitude earthquake on Friday, July 19.

GeoNet reports dozens of aftershocks from when the 6.5 quake struck until 6am today with the largest today being a 4.9 quake at 3.15am.

Katikati raised Rebecca Fisher was in her Mount Cook apartment on the second floor watching television about 5pm on Sunday when the shaking began.

'We felt it pretty big here. We felt the one at 5pm then all through the night aswell.

'We were getting ready to make dinner and we jumped under the table and my partner jumped under the doorway. It felt like it went for quite a while – or it felt like quite a while.

'I pulled everything off the shelves and all the breakables in case there was anything overnight, which there was. If I had been at work it would have been a different story.”

Rebecca, who works on The Terrace, has been told not to come into work today as her building suffered a burst pipe and inspectors are investigating.

'Yeah there was a bit of damage in the central city. There hasn't been any damage here, but have heard from friends.”

The 6.5 quake struck 30km east of Seddon. Image: GeoNet.

Victoria University and Massey University are closed today. Workers heading for the central city are being told to stay home until midday while buildings and roadways in the central city are assessed.

Rebecca says buses are working but trains are not running until the lines have been investigated.

There has also been a rush to stock up on goods at the supermarket with many stores running out of bottled water and batteries.

At 7.30am Rebecca went to Countdown where there were only 12 bottles of water left in stock.

'This morning I went down to get some batteries and water. There were only 12 bottles of one litre water left. There were signs up saying it was temporarily out of stock. Batteries had almost gone aswell.”

The 6.5 quake had a depth of 19km and generated shaking of up to 21 per cent g (1/5 of the force due to gravity).

GeoNet's Kevin Fenaughty says initial indications the 6.5 quake was generated by a transverse (side to side) movement of plates in the Cook Straight. Whereas earlier activity was caused by a thrusting where one plate rides over another.

GNS Science believes the sequence is in the overlying plate Australian plate, which overlies the subducting Pacific plate at a depth of about 25km.

'Many crustal faults have been mapped in the area, however the exact fault(s) upon which the events have occurred is yet to be determined.”

GNS Science estimates there is a one in three chance of another magnitude 6.0 or greater quake hitting in the coming week.

Rebecca, a former Katikati College student, has lived in Wellington for the last eight years and says this is the biggest quake she has felt in that time.

'We haven't felt one since 3.30am today, they are predicting them to carry on which is a bit unsettling. It is a bit scary.

'There is no one around, it's a bit weird.”

New Zealand Fire Service Urban Search and Rescue says engineers and technicians are working with the Wellington City Council to check central city buildings are safe to re-occupy.

"The City Council has over a dozen engineers working their way through the city and they are being supplemented by a USAR team that includes three engineers, six technicians and one paramedic," says NZ Fire Service communications advisor Karlum Lattimore.

A Fire Service command unit has been set up on The Terrace to provide communications and support to the USAR team.

"In the meantime, calls for Fire Service assistance has fallen off after peaking at around 90 earthquake related calls up until midnight last night.

"There are still a few reports of burst pipes coming in and some residents seeking assurance about cracks in homes or garages.

The Pacific Tsunami Centre issued a warning notice at 5.40pm reporting a tsunami generated from the quake was unlikely.

Supermarkets in Wellington have sold out of bottled water.

Damage to Wellington's port. Photo: #eqnz

Damage at Pak N Save in Porirua. Photo: Natasha Laurenson.