In Upper Plain, Masterton, a resident described a “loud, violent jolt”.
Another person said their house felt as though it had been hit by a train.
In Lansdowne, one resident said the quake appeared to come in “two waves”, while another said their house creaked before a short wobble.
Further north, a Dannevirke resident said it felt “like a freight train going past the door at speed”.
The quake follows a magnitude 5.1 tremor off the North Island’s East Coast this afternoon.