One of the biggest earthquakes in the Hawke's Bay in recent years has been felt in the region.
The quake, measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale, hit at 11.25pm on Monday, 10 kilometres southwest of Hastings, and was felt over a wide area.
Power was lost in two areas of Napier, but supplies were quickly restored.
Hastings District Council activated its emergency response centre to monitor developments but did not declare a civil defence emergency.
The council says a damage assessment will be carried out on Tuesday, although there have been no reports of serious damage.
The Earthquake Commission expects to receive up to 2000 claims.
Police say they have had reports of items falling from shelves in people's homes.
Warwick Smith, duty seismologist at the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, says the quake is the first for some time to strike onshore in a populated area. It was reasonably deep at 30km and the damage could have been far worse.
Dr Smith says the quake is likely to have shaken things off shelves and broken windows, but he would not expect it to have caused any structural damage.
An aftershock measuring 3.5 was recorded soon after Monday's quake and more aftershocks are expected.
Shop owners clean up
Shop owners in Hastings arrived at work on Tuesday to find everything from beauty products to glassware and grocery products on the floor.
A big liquor store in Hastings lost a lot of wine and had to borrow staff from a supermarket to help clean up.
In Napier, part of a four-storey building at the Eastern Institute of Technology in Taradale has been temporarily closed to staff and students because of movement in several stairwells and plaster cracks on walls.
