A strong earthquake has struck near Haast on the South Island's west coast.
The magnitude 5 tremor hit at 7.42am and was centred 45km north west of Haast and was at a depth of 12km.
The tremor was felt in the region with 79 people recorded on the GeoNet website as noticing a light or moderate jolt.
It was the second quake in the South Island in two hours, after a light 3.0 tremor was recorded 5km north of Queenstown at a depth of 13km at 5.42am.