Hundreds feels the shake of the magnitude 4.8 earthquake that hit New Zealand

After a swarm of earthquakes hit New Zealand in the past 12 hours, another has hit the nation.

A magnitude 4.8 earthquake has hit New Zealand on Thursday, with hundreds of Kiwis feeling the shake.

The earthquake hit around 15km north-east of Tūrangi, on the North Island, at 12.23pm local time.

It struck a depth of around 5km on the southern edge of Lake Taupo, residents in the nearby region of Motuoapa saying they felt their homes tremble.

Earthquakes have swarmed New Zealand. Picture: Twitter

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Over 1600 people reported that they had felt the earthquake within 20 minutes, on the GeoNet website, with 37 nearby residents saying the shakes were “strong”.

A local from Motuoapa – Matt West – told Stuff that he managed to grab his television while his walls were shaking.

“I managed to hold onto that,” he said.

“And that was only 4.8, imagine if we get a bigger one.”

Hundreds of others reported on GeoNet that they experienced weak to moderate shaking.

Two people said the tremors they felt were “severe” with four others claiming they felt “extreme” trembling.

Almost one hour later, a second 3.8 magnitude earthquake hit nearby, almost 20km north-east of Tūrangi, at the same depth.

Taupō Mayor David Trewavas said there were no report of damage at this stage.

Residents were quick to jump online and tweet about the tremors they felt.

Hmmmmmm…. #eqnz swarms around Taupō and Ōtautahi.

With Welly in the middle. Yikes.

— GraveyDice 💚 (@GraveyDice) June 3, 2021

Woah that was another decent shake! #eqnz

— 𝕄𝕚𝕔𝕙𝕖 🥂 (@MicheCaldwell) June 3, 2021

Wobble wobble wobble #eqnz

— Duane McGregor (@ArdChoilleNZ) June 3, 2021

Shaking Turangi #eqnz Taupo swarms

— courtney lambert (@cjlambert) June 3, 2021

Eek that woke me up!!! #eqnz

— 𝕄𝕚𝕔𝕙𝕖 🥂 (@MicheCaldwell) June 2, 2021

#EQNZ#Taupo
That was a couple of goodies one straight after the other

— Nicholas of a Married Kid & a Covid Refugee Kid (@nicholasphilp) June 2, 2021

Hard to miss a shake in my office - everything rattles! Must do something about that and eq-proof it all 🥴 #eqnz

— TDoocey (@DooceyT) June 2, 2021

This comes after various quakes hit the area overnight, with GeoNet recording nine earthquakes all within 5km of Taupō – between 2.0 to 2.9 in magnitude.

One resident claimed the 4.8 quake was the fifth one she had felt in the early hours of Thursday morning.

“Another earthquake. Rocking and rattling. 5th one I’ve felt since 1am,” she tweeted.

“Bit unnerving having cluster of earthquakes... We get mild ones all the time that are hard to distinguish from truck rumbling past. [But the] ground was moving with these ones.”

another earthquake. Rocking and rattling. 5th one I've felt since 1am. #NewZealand

— Bipolar Courage (@CourageBipolar) June 3, 2021

Just a bit unnerving having cluster of earthquakes as wonder if going to get one that does a lot of damage. We get mild ones all the time that are hard to distinguish from truck rumbling past. Ground was moving with these ones. #earthquakes#NZ

— Bipolar Courage (@CourageBipolar) June 3, 2021