Strong aftershock jolts Christchurch

9:15 am on 11 March 2011

Christchurch was rattled by another strong aftershock on Thursday night.

The country's second-biggest city continues to experience tremors following a powerful 6.3-magnitude earthquake which caused severe damage on 22 February.

Witnesses say the tremor at 8.07pm lasted for seven to eight seconds and was a sharp jolt, stronger than most other aftershocks experienced to date.

GNS Science says the 4.5-magnitude aftershock was was centred 10km east of Christchurch at a depth of 10km.

It followed an earlier aftershock at 7.25pm, which measured 3.2.

Another quake of magnitude 3.2 was felt at 9.24pm.